Near the end of the Yavin IV campaign mission, you break open the barrier into the temple and, unique to this level, you see an AAC-2 tank.

Looking through the ODFs, I'm not sure if I found the correct sources to verify their stats. The most likely candidates for this are:

all_hover_bos_combatspeeder
all_hover_combatspeeder

Assuming that the "bos" one refers to it being a sort of "boss" of this level, I'm perplexed by the only difference being that "bos" has 4000 hp while the other one has 8000.

Is someone willing/able to verify that the correct ODFs were selected and the right conclusions made?

Hello!

As part of my research into the history of Battlefront, I've accumulated an assortment of videos, even some that have been otherwise deleted from the internet (such as certain Hunt For The Jedi machinima). Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbXLBI8aoVrAXjOGmUxLuZA/playlists

It's a fantastic map and, to my surprise, features a well-proportioned Yoda. For a SWBF1 map, this astounded me, because every other version of Yoda I've seen featured him using an Ewok body, causing his appearance to look distorted. And here he is, looking good and moving with such quality animation. This is an innovation that needs to be in more mods, whether as a new heroic leader or as part of a revamped Hero Assault mode. Could we make this happen?

The original author, Fusillade24, had his channel deleted some time ago. Thankfully, I have most of his machinima series saved on my hard drive, with just the first half of Fury of the Wookie missing. It will be re-uploaded soon enough, but I'd like to have the entirety of the series available when that happens.

I was informed that such a mod is available and, out of morbid curiosity, I'm hoping to learn more about it. Does anyone know the name of such a mod?

I discovered the Battlefront Project mod by Syth. It strikes me as a very under-appreciate era and map pack, since it has some ambitious units, cool variety of vehicles, a fantastic roster of heroes (Padme and Anakin look derpy, though), and even features the ability to destroy Trade Federation Core Ships (which is an admirable attempt, though the experience feels flat).

However, most unique among its features seems to be the ability for basic units to go prone. It looks a teeny bit glitchy, but it works! It would be perfect to introduce into the Conversion Pack! [I know, there's modder etiquette and reservations about adjusting works like this, but the point still stands that this is something that the pack should have had since the beginning]

Is there a reason for why this feature is so infrequently implemented? I would like to see it in other mods!

Link to mod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-battlefront-project

I recently had this notion that there are a ridiculous number of named characters in Star Wars, both in canon and legends, and there's very few mods that seem to present more than several of these people at a time. And, with the list of available character models increasing, such as with Teancum's recent Jedi Academy conversions, this game is in increasing need of a mod or series of mods that can put all of them together. It could be epic. Imagine all of the heroes and villains you could ever want to fight as or against in one package.

I doubt it's practical to fit over a hundred different characters into a single Hero Assault map, but maybe there could be different 'era' mods to split them apart? Maybe a "Game EU" era featuring characters from Dark Forces, Jedi Academy, and so on, and similar ones for the books, television series, and different eras like the Old Republic?

Could it be possible to use a custom menu or fake console to generate individualized armies?

I finally got my hands on the issue of PC Gamer Magazine that reputedly had the very first leak of Battlefront 2 in March 2005, when BF2 was 6 months into development and had about another 6 more months left. In it, there's a very interesting passage which describes the Tantive IV level as involving you helping Leia and the droids reach the escape pods (paraphrasing Producer Dan Pettit). Who knows for sure when the story would change to solely cover the perspective of the 501st instead, but it would be another 2 months before that legion is even mentioned. Clearly, the dev team was undergoing some major changes to the story in the early months of 2005.

There's a few more neat details, like how BF1 pilots and Wookiees were still being used. Man, I love learning how the game changed during development.

This is just a thought that crossed my mind. I figured that, with some of you having so much more experience from years of modding, perhaps some of the older, more basic, and more clunky designs from the past can be rebooted with more current standards. I don't know what maps in particular would warrant this, nor how feasible/worthwhile doing such would be, but I'm curious.

To you fine people, among the most dedicated to Battlefront 1, with some of you perhaps having been around to enjoy it since the beginning, I'd like to present my draft about the history, mechanics, and context of Battlefront. You might be among the most insightful to point out errors and areas to improve or expand it. If interested, then PM me for a copy.

I've reached the point where I think I've exhausted nearly every single available resource and now I'm sick of looking at it. So, for now, I intend to leave BF1 behind and concentrate my effort towards either BF2 or the canceled BF3. Obviously, it's unfinished--I still need to determine the best formatting and optimize some of my more verbose sections, as well as clear out any notes and "to-dos" that litter the document. But having a different perspective read it in the meantime would make it a better project in the long-term.

Currently, it's 363 pages. But don't worry! Much if it is articles copy-pasted onto a timeline and photos! Here's the structure:


01-25: a history of LucasArts. The purpose of this section is to show how LucasArts rose and fell and therefore show what Battlefront, as their first true blockbuster success in a time when they weren't doing well, would mean to them.

25-41: Battlefront's context among other SW games and what little we know of its development history.

41-59: A basic overview of what was shown to us in the announcement, then in the months up to release, and how it implies the kinds of changes that the game underwent during that time.

59-190: a timeline of complete articles, photos, factoids, and videos used in this research, with the occasional narration.

190-351: talking about everything regarding the game, from how it compares to Battlefield 1942, to mods, to patches, to the history of sites like FilePlanet, to canon status, to Easter eggs, and plenty more.

352-363: just stuff that I'm thinking of implementing, like a bit more info about the Jim Ward restructuring of LucasArts in 2004 and photos of cut content.


I understand that it's a lot and might seem intimidating to start reading. That's okay! I know it's a lot and that's why I hope to release a trimmed-down video version at some point! Your effort would be appreciated and you'll be credited as an Editor for commenting about it.

I recently learned that one of the devs for BF1 and 2, Psych0fred, has made some contributions to this community. I would like to know more about the extent of these correspondences, maybe learn about other devs who participated, and have some questions answered.

Psych0fred's misc items look to me like WIP content intended for BF1 and 2, although they could just be post-launch efforts made by a dev that loves modding. Could anyone confirm which one?

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=3568.msg38044#msg38044


And here's his Beta vehicles:
http://secretsociety.com/forum/downloads/Psych0%20Projects/BetaVehicles/
It seems fairly clear that these are actual assets made during development and that only some were meant for BF1, although I do wonder if there are more dev-provided downloads of this sort available here.

I also found these posts:
Sound Discussion: http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6039.0
Interview: http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6608.0 

As part of my Battlefront retrospective, I'm thinking of adding a section devoted to the soundtrack of each game. However, information is somewhat limited, especially for Battlefront 1. Even the Game Soundtracks website is making matters more difficult by confusing BF1 2004 and 2015:

https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/star-wars-battlefront

So, is there a convenient way of procuring a list of songs?

I'm currently using the mod loader with Steam. It comes with the option to skip the introductory credits while launching the game. Nice feature, but Steam always initiates a popup saying something to the effect of, 'Are you sure you want to skip the intro?' and that's an annoying little inconvenience that counters the whole point of a quick game launch. I'm wondering if the GoG version has a similar popup. If it does, then I guess I'll have to find some sort of workaround.

*As ridiculous as it is, I'd rather not link out to his site - no offense * -DP


I laughed. Seriously, I had a genuinely good time while reading, and only wish that I was informed about it (I really just stumbled upon this page). I'm inclined towards interpreting it as a troll post (given the aggrandizing self-promotion and brazen vitriol over such a harmless topic), but Phobos does seem like a well-informed individual with much more experience in Battlefront 2004 than me, so I'd be extremely happy to talk with him about his honest recommendations for more mods. Some of the ones s/he posted sound interesting by their names alone, and so I hope that they weren't listed as a joke about their quality. Please, if there's great ones I missed, then please let me know!

And by the way, I do think that Naboo: Grassy Plains is an awesome map. When I say that something is weird, I mean that with the utmost positivity and yearn for plenty more just like it.

Hello!

I'm wondering how many mod managers are available for Battlefront 2 and, if more than one, which of them would be preferred and why.

Based on what I could find, the trailer is 21 seconds long and features Vader choking Anakin.

It's referenced on GameSpot as Official Movie 17, but it's not on LucasArts' official Gamefront page, and YouTube searches have been typically unhelpful. It's a small bit of Battlefront history, but it's a neat one: the public's first glimpse at the awesomeness of heroes from all eras clashing. It would be a shame for it to disappear forever due to negligence.

Here is the GameSpot reference: https://www.gamespot.com/videos/star-wars-battlefront-ii-official-movie-17/2300-6140026/

While the original Battlefront 1 home page is fairly easy to access via the Wayback Machine, the sequel suffers from poor implementation of Flash coupled with the internet architecture of 2005. Thus, the only way to view it is with the technique presented here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/99wjk8/tutorial_running_classic_battlefront_2_home_page/?ref=share&ref_source=link

Have fun with nostalgia!

This list is not in particular order. I will, however, have three separate lists, one for "The best" maps, one for "The best" SWBF2 conversion maps, and another for maps that just don't quite satisfy personal standards. My goal is to create a comprehensive list of the best mods for people to enjoy, but I'm sure that I'll miss some. So, please look at the first list, then the list of okay maps, and make any suggestions.

Top Mods:
1.   Everything by Sereja:
a.   Otoh Gunga
b.   Quarzite Subtram
c.   Naboo: City of Theed
d.   Polar Express
e.   Kohlma: Moon of the Dead v2
f.   Nar Shaddaa: Vertical City
g.   Tatooine: Mos Eisley Spaceport
h.   Endor: Brighttree Village
i.   Umbara: Shadow Forest
j.   Santa's Home
k.   Fairy Tale
l.   WIP: Raxus Prime: Scrap Yard

2.   The following from Rend:
a.   Coruscant City
b.   Coruscant Streets
c.   Kashyyk: Wookieeland
d.   Bounty Hunters: Tibana Gas Depot

3.   Cargo Hold. It uses a good mix of assets to produce a generic but high-quality map. Unfortunately, the in-game title is "Needs a name."

4.   GGW Cantina v1.1. Very charming map layout, with some fantastic implementation of Jawas, droids, and vehicles to make the place seem friendly and lively. AI doesn't know what to do, but that's fine because this is supposed to be a multiplayer mode for screwing around and racing (with cars even!). Textures in caves are the only thing that looks terrible. Also has some amazingly hilarious skins, like Ronald McDonald!

5.   Ginev's Tatooine. It has great skin implementation, destructible environments, impactful weapons, ships that periodically swoop, and I think there's some scripted explosions. It's also huge while feeling just right.

6.   Tatooine: Mos Anek V2 (Tusken Hunt). The only problem is that the announcer for the Tuskens is the Imperials – Sounds wrong. Still, though, this map has a fantastic concept: Tuskens are aiming to capture a city, totally outnumbering the Rebels. Feels epic.

7.   Return to Hoth (Wampa Hunt). It's Wampa hunt, so that's a plus. But it feels like it's not living up to its potential, like having a skin of Luke which looks no different from the pilot that's also on the map, plus there being 2 indistinguishable classes of Wampa.

8.   Theta Squad – Objective 1. This is sort of like a thematic Wookiee Hunt, in which a few Republic Commandos fight a larger force of Wookiees on the base map. Some of the clones look a bit glitchy, but a cool concept and cool weapons make up for the issues.

9.   Hyperion 1: Ancient Excavations. Zombie mode! Great models too, very atmospheric map design with a lot of new models, including mushrooms, dead Stormtroopers, doors with bloody handprints, and even a statue that the zombies seem to congregate at. Plus, fantastic zombie-killing weapons. Unfortunately, many of the names are silly, like all zombies having a "lightsaber" despite only using the swing animation to kill.

10.   Hyperion 2: Tunnels of Death. Even cooler skins. Same naming problem as before.  Really hard to navigate because it's pitch dark and there's no good minimap. Probably less fun than the first map, but definitely spookier. Also, the zombies don't technically have a command post, so they can spawn from anywhere!

11.   Froggy's Paintball Arena v1.1. A well-executed arena design with very simple classes (just 1 blue and 1 red on each side) that's made utterly amazing by having the BAM effect with each shot. This is epic paintball! No doubt a great time to have with friends!

12.   Froggy's Snowball Valley. The map itself is a bit plain, but the concept is so charmingly innocent that it's worth playing. Plus, piles of snow acting as ammo restocking stations is brilliant! AI pathing is also quite nice, with AI capable of using defenses.

13.   Serpentown. Santa and "elves' vs cowboys. Weapons are also thematic. Have fun!

14.   Eddie's Dantooine 1.0. Nothing special, but competent.

15.   Eddie's Death Star 1.0. You fight on the surface, either on foot or in ships. Plenty of turrets from the ground, including some apparently new pillar-shaped ones. Overall, it's interesting.

16.   Gamorrean camp. The map itself is rather basic, basically a symmetrical forest with an aquatic center to fight over, but the addition of Gamorreans is a decent twist.

17.   Tatooine: Imperial Ground Assault 0.9. It is a fun, chaotic map, with very good pathing mixed with a high number of AI creating some scenic preludes to battle as you watch enemies come from a distance en masse. It has every Tatooine asset, apparently. Issue: X-Wings have some glitchy models.

18.   Battle of Albridon City. Intense aerial combat, large outdoor invasion to the city, blue Theed guards. Overall, decent.

19.   Crazy Water Arena. ONLY RECOMMENDED FOR MULTIPLAYER. Psychedelic background with a theme around combat with jump troopers over platforms. Fun, but the AI is terrible at landing.

20.   Naboo: The Phantom Menace. While not an exact replica of the Gungan battle, due to Gungans having rocket launchers and such, this is a very intense mode as the Gungans rush up the hill to the MTTs (which can be piloted, but the droids have no initiative to enter).

21.   Rancor's Lair. It's a forest with a lot of pathways and dotted with rancors. Unfortunately, the rancors do not move, so they're mainly just an aesthetic contribution.

22.   Naboo Grassy Plains. Vehicles include MTT, Flying Rancor, Flying Acklay, Flying Flat Board, a custom CIS vehicle, and more. It's very weird.

23.   RancorLand. It's whacky, with some great skins, including a Wampa with a gun and Cyber-Maul. Some AI rancors too.

24.   Execution at Geonosis Map Pack

25.   The Battle Royale. Really whacky, even includes a nuke! Plus some funny kill-text. One problem: the folder name has to be skmc2.

26.   Everything in the Gogo12-Ginev Best Maps pack
a.   Behind enemy lines. Republic Commando in tight corridors and involves destroying droid dispensers.
b.   Dantooine. Thrawn!
c.   Delta Hunt. Republic Commando, linear trek through Geonosis. Allies spawn in background to add immersion.
d.   Dxun Moon: Mandalorian Camp. Vanilla units, but a huge and detailed forest/ravine.
e.   Geonosis Lair. Poor implementation of unit names, and AI is bad at destroying Techno Union ships, but there's AT-TE droppers (that don't seem to actually drop, oh well)
f.   Geonosis Hills. Republic Commando, linear, lots of allies. A bit of a grind, so better with human allies.
g.   Korriban. Vanilla units, no new units (although there is a suggestion to "hide in the dark" in the menu), but the music and cave-based design and models are neat. Plus, command post in tree.
h.   Moon Dxun. Linear escort mission with AT-TE to rescue allies. Awesome, even cinematic! AI is dumb when crossing bridge, though. Ending is about dealing with a huge rush of CIS.
i.   Planet Morishim. An "epic" battle across a very rugged landscape. Bases are too difficult to capture until AT-TEs arrive.
j.   Nar Shaddaa: The Roof. City with maze and lots of cover, but vanilla units.
k.   Raxus Prime. Most beautiful pile of junk. May have been remade into Battlefront 2.
l.   Naboo Invasion 1. Space Naboo, but the planet is just a square water texture. Sides favor droids 3:1.
m.   Naboo Invasion 2. Awesome MTT escort mission into Theed! Tank did get a little wonky at one point, though. Ends with destroying starfighters.

27.   Attack of the Piggies.

28.   Tatooine: Boonta Eve. A well-designed map because it has little arrows pointing you in the right direction and there's periodic healing droids to help keep you going. There's also a Tusken camp.

29.   Raka's Adventure (Beta). I don't have the patience to play it, but it has custom units, an "adventure" theme, and apparently some puzzles. Sounds original, if nothing else.


Top Conversion mods:

1.   Side pack. Unfortunately, it doesn't add the officer class, Rebel sniper looks distorted, weapons don't seem to change (e.g. Wookiee has no recon droid). Really, it just seems like a reskin pack.

2.   Mos Eisley Assault. It's missing a lot of cool characters and, for some reason, has a Rebel Commando.

3.   Battle over Coruscant.

4.   Return to Hoth for Wampa Hunt.

5.   A list of converted maps with links, as of Apr 2015.
http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=4591.0




Some okay mods:
1.   Geonosis: Sand and Rock. Nothing new, just 2 bases across a very long and empty plain. Somewhat entertaining for those who value a very grindy matchup.
2.   Seenland. Basically Naboo: Plains but bigger, no Gungans, and with an MTT.
3.   Octagon Of Death. It's a cage match.
4.   SlaughterHouse 2.0. It's a cage match with turrets and some decent cover.
5.   Eddie's Tynna 1.0. It's big, wide, green, and ultimately serviceable. Not very interesting, though.
6.   Real Hero Side – Order 66. Fantastic models of basic Jedi, Sith Anakin, but gameplay is designed around an intense grind (4 command posts too close together).
7.   Big Hoth Map 2.2. It's too big for its own good, and lacks any novelties to make it interesting. I spent more time looking at the skybox and background.
8.   Rend's Jundland 2.5. Command posts are too far apart without much interesting in-between. Vanilla classes. Kinda neat how there's a Tusken camp at the bottom of a very deep ravine.
9.   RHS: Battle Over Coruscant. It's not a space battle but rather a recreation of Anakin and Obi-Wan rescuing Palpatine. The sides are somewhat cool, including even R2 and Grievous, but the map textures are terrible and open to a bizarrely warped and open skybox of space.
10.   Emperor's Throne Room. Looks neat, could be great for some small duals. Has a great Maul, but no emperor. Also, confusing how you have to start the match in the Clone Wars.
11.   TAW Prinx Scrim. Really dull design, just a flat plain with random buildings in random places. No proper in-game title.
12.   =BW= Headquarters. Has some cool sides (Luke with a sniper, Plo Quoon as a counterpart with force choke). But it's really just the hallways of Cloud City build really short.
13.   Elevator. A platform was turned into a vehicle, which is funny to watch AI use because they toggle crouch rapidly. Unfortunately, it's very unreliable and won't even allow the player to exit, so it's rather useless.
14.   Tatooine Gulch (River). This is a 3-way fight divided into 2 separate maps: playable Tuskens and non-playable. Its scope is ambitious, but it's far too mired by awful AI pathing, in which the AI is often stuck and often seems to lack the capacity to properly push. It is crazy, though, how the Tuskens seem able to destroy an AT-AT.
15.   Kashyyk: Village. Basically a recreation of the campaign mission, except much larger, with more large bodies of deadly water blocking most pathways, and an empty minimap that makes navigation feel too difficult. Plus, the viewing distance is terrible.
16.   Kashyyk: The Beginning. Has some nice (if far too colorful) clone skins, and it's huge, but the minimap feels too plain for such a large battlefield. I guess it's sort of neat how there's torches outlining the safe paths through water.
17.   Mars Siege 3.0. Terribly plain, but with lots of vehicles. Very unstable.
18.   Naboo Forest Outpost 1.0. Basically, the rebels quickly climb a hill and then assault a heavily defended base. Custom vehicle. Interesting to see a giant turret used for defensive purposes.
19.   LOTR: Mount Doom. Has a really cool skybox (just still images of fire, though). It does come with custom sides (which you have to manually add, damn), which don't contribute much aside from switching some weapons and giving the Jet Trooper unlimited flight (so you can sit on top of the volcano, yay!)
20.   Death Star Trench Run.
21.   Eddie's Base 42.
22.   Eddie's Q City. Capital ships fly really close.
23.   Endor Confrontation. The only interesting thing is the skybox. Most infantry don't movie.
24.   Geonosis Battlegrounds. Far too wide and empty. Mostly just aerial combat. Has some cool but small caves and openings.
25.   Hoth Escape. Just space Hoth. Kinda janky. Funny how fighters spawn on top of capital ships.
26.   Ratooine 1.1. Basically just a long, outdoor hallway that requires so much time for the action to properly start.
27.   Sandcrawler's Maze Battle 1.1. Could have some appeal.
28.   Sandcrawler's Mountain Wars 1.0. It's just a plain surrounding a pyramid. Has some appeal for those who like to climb or shoot from above, but little else. I like the Geonosis skybox.
29.   TAW City 1.0. Basically Theed + Plains + Naboo Forest. Feels a bit empty despite having all of that, plus rather glitchy with some textures.
30.   Sexy Map (aka, Dude, where's my kart?). An arrangement of 4 differently-colored plateaus crossed by bridges and with half of the fighting happening at a lower level. A bit interesting.
31.   Kashyyk: Plains 1.2. Very plain.

Does the very first game have a mod manager? I could only find one for the sequel.

If one doesn't exist, then I guess I'll just start re-naming my downloaded map folders so that they're easier to read. Thankfully that doesn't seem to mess up the mods. Though I do sort of wish that renaming works with the sequel . . . it's annoying to rely on acronyms and a mod manager to help give them proper titles.

Hello!

I'm making a retrospective for the entire Battlefront franchise -- it's development history, interviews, publications, historical context, mechanics, and even mods. It's currently at 300 pages and not even close to finished! I would like to make it into a video essay (or many), but a text document is priority for now.

Here, I want to obtain advice from the community to create a comprehensive list of mods as well as a basic guide for how to manage them. [At the moment, I'm testing out any halfway decent mods to see if I want to include them. Once that's done, I'll list them and ask you guys for other suggestions).

In addition, I am exploring the files to see what secrets I can unearth At the moment, I'm fascinated by how critical hits on vehicles are implemented -- the damage done, how their locations don't seem to match conventional wisdom, how some vehicles seem to have none at all, etc.