I need some ideas for classes to have in a Jedi vs Sith mod. So I have decided to ask the general population what they would like to see. So let's see them. Some ideas for classes to have. I may not use your idea exactly but I need inspiration. Try to think up of balanced force powers and such. (I am having a creative block here guys.)

Help me SWBFGamers your my only hope!

That is right you heard it from me the 3rd one in one of the most loved series around has arrived. Can you believe it?! The graphics, the gameplay, the awesomeness of it all!!!1!1111!

That is right Age of Empires III is a great game really, I have owned it for quite a while now. Lovely game really.

[spoiler]Just trying to bring some laughs to the table here guys after all this doom and gloom "Gamespy is down" talk. Surprisingly there is no rule against making a topic like this...
[/spoiler]

Greetings people. If you like to get a hold of classic fun Star Wars games and play them you have come to the right place. Not interested? We did mention this was a free giveaway right? In this lovely giveaway if you win you'll receive a Steam copy of Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. It is a brilliant game to it's core. Good fun. The best part might be that it works on both PCs and Macs. Which means no matter which OS you have you can play this game thanks to Steamplay. (Because come on who doesn't want to get a ten year old Star Wars game sent to them over Steam by some random from New Zealand?)

Entering is simple create an account with your e-mail. Preferably with your forum name so I know who you are. If you win I gift the game to your e-mail address simple really. Each person can earn up to entries one through answering a simple question the other through liking SWBFGamers on Facebook. Anyone caught entering more times than twice through the two methods described above will be disqualified from the giveaway.

The giveaway will begin tomorrow and Led will presuming he was right about HTML code working on the front page put the giveaway there. Also presuming I have set everything up right. Please don't get mad at me if it has a few speed bumps one way or another someone will leave with the game.

Comments? Complaints? Flames?

It's under way guys! I want to see you lot having your matches and remember screenshots are required!

Find out who you will be facing here - http://swbfgamers.challonge.com/bracketII

Basic Concept
Same as last time everyone would be put into a randomized bracket. Most likely it would be double elimination again. However this time I would try to get a lot more involved in setting up matches, finding out if everyone was trying to setup match times and finding out why a match hadn't taken place yet. Stuff like that to help the tournament stay on track.

Rules & Regulations
Remember all of these and everything is aloud to be discussed about. This isn't set in stone.
No Impersonating
This rule is pretty simple. No impersonating anyone else from the tournament. No having anyone else impersonate anyone else from the tournament. Punishment for breaching this is immediate disqualification from the tournament. The reason this rule is in place is to help prevent match rigging.
Post a Screenshot at Match End
Both players are required to post screenshots at the end of a match to prove it actually happened. You can press P to do this, use xFire or even FRAPS http://www.fraps.com/download.php. You should probably just download and use the free version of FRAPS if you don't know how to do the other methods FRAPs is straight forward and simple. You can then use an image hosting service like http://postimage.org/ to upload it. Once you have uploaded it you can post a link to it in this topic.
No Cheating, Glitching or Hacking
No one likes cheat. If you are caught cheating via any method your match is forfeit. If you have yet to be put into double elimination you still have a chance to correct your ways and win fair. The map will possibly be a secure one like last time to ensure no cheating.
Be a Good Sport
Please don't complain about lag as being the reason you lost. Or anything like that. Be civil and respectful to your opponent. We are here to have fun win or lose.
Keep to the Deadlines
Unlike last time their will be a two week limit for each bracket round. Why two weeks? One week could just be unreasonable across the different timezones for everyone to find time for their dual. With two weeks I believe everyone should be able to find a good time for their match.

Match Guidelines

Organize your Match ASAP
You are expected to organize your match with your opponent yourself. And you are expected to see as quickly as possible, it doesn't matter if you don't have the dual it self for a week after the round has started. As long as you are organizing it with your opponent behind the scenes. If for some reason you can not reach them or need assistance in doing so contact me.
Be on Time to your Match
If you agreed to have your match at 8:30PM you are expected to be there at that time. Not an hour later. It depends on your opponent schedule as to if you can have the match still. If you can't you will have to reschedule before the two week deadline is up.
No Class Restrictions
Their are no restrictions to classes except those already built into the game. You can play as any class just as your opponent can.
Duel Area
The duel area can both be all over the map or in a specifically agreed location. Both players are expected to agree on the locations before the duel begins. If one player does not agree on the location the duel is across the entire map.
Goals and Victory
Unlike in a normal game of SWBF their are only two players. Your goal is to kill you opponent till he has no reinforcements left. Their is no Command Post capturing. Once the match has finished, remember to take a screenshot.  See the Rules and Regulations section for a quick guide on screenshots.
Current Participants
Please note numbers are for organizational purposes only they will in no way effect who you place in the bracket.
1. SleepKiller
2. Rajsombath
3. Der Feine Herr
4. Peanut
5. {212}FrenchFryZ
6. {212th} Norris
7. 212 | F ! z Z
8. Dark_Phantom
9. (212) Pvt. Ruger
10. [FC]Elite
11. {PLA}gdh92
12. [FC]Helios
13. {212} Nixo

NABOO: PLAINS HD Texture Pack

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=780

BESPIN: ZOMBIECITY

Greetings one and all it is time to step up and fight Zombies. You don't like fighting Zombies you say? Too bad! It is time for you to man or droid up. Depends on which team you are playing as.

Game play is pretty much the same as what you know and love. Except there are Zombies that start out with Carbon Freezing Chamber and the Courtyard command posts. Also we have included a survival mode if you are into that kind of thing.

When hosting Multiplayer the AI count should be set to 16.









Also I would like to enter this as my entry into the modding competition.

Acknowledgements

Led
Pandemic Studios


Grab it now!

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=778

SWBF Server - No Reinforcement Drain Patch

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=745

Okay so I had a very interesting conversation with my sister and her husband about Star Wars and the acting in it. We seemed to all agree that it was terrible in the prequel trilogy. Then the conversation shifted focus from the actors to the director. According to my sisters husband some of the bad actors in the movies he has seen in other movies and they are good. Wehn I though about it it made sense some of the scenes have that "first take good enough" feel about them. Now let's take a look at Episode V I have seen people say it is the best of the saga, what is different about it? George Lucas didn't direct it. Now I can't help but wonder what would have been with the prequels if you took the same actors and gave it a different director.

No offence to George Lucas or anything. But it does sort of make sense if you think about it. The actors aren't necessarily the problem in the prequels the director is.

What are your guys thoughts in the subject? (Kitfisto don't just rage at me for hating on George Lucas go away and think about it for thirty minutes and tell me what you think then if you must.)

My sister is currently visiting for a few days and then after that I am going back to her house to visit some of my friends over there. So I won't be around much for a week or so, I'll still check up on the site. But I won't be modding or probably contributing very much until I am back. Just thought I would let everyone know what is up, down and all around.

So I have an idea for a new tournament event, as in a one off battle we show up we fight we go home. Everyone is happy. The idea is courtyard duels, you may or may not be familiar with the concept of courtyard duels. Simply put, two guys step into the courtyard from opposite sides and fight to the death.

Now my idea is we have an event one weekend were we all met up at a server and dual each other. At first two people could be randomly called forth and then the winner would receive challengers from the other players. Some would would be keeping track of the wins of each player. At the end of the evnt we add up the total wins and we find out who won.

A very simple rule-set is what I have in mind.
-No Cursing/Cussing during the event.
-It would take place on my Controlled Courtyard Duels map to limit interferance. (It is a simple server side mod that puts a barrier around the courtyard.)
-Any mods would be aloud I see nothing that can really give someone an advantage in a courtyard duel, as long as it doesn't crash your game you could come with as many mods as you would want.
-No interfering with a duel. Breaking this would result is disqualification.

What do you guys think of this? Should we give a go at doing it? Should a rule be added or removed? I want your feedback!

So I was talking to Led on my thoughts about the Download systems current state. So I'll share them with you all here and we can all discuss it a merry community like fashion to decide what if anything should be done.

My major gripes are,
when people upload assets that aren't their own it is all good and dandy but there are other file sharing sites they could be using,
when people upload screen shots the download system is a bit useless in that degree people should just use a image hosting site.

I had the idea of making Upload Guidelines for people to follow. Led also had the idea of making a "Junk" section that would be cleaned out each week. So Led decided we should get a bit more feedback from everyone in general on their thoughts.

BESPIN: SECURITY COMPOUND - .ZIP

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=702

Well I started thinking today about Valve and much of a great developer they are. So I thought I would I would write it down just why I liked them.

So to start off with the games, they are all brilliant anything made by Valve is fun to play and most importantly complete. Valve doesn't tend to release a game unless it is finished and they don't put too much stress on there developers to get it out by a deadline. If you haven't ever played a Valve game start with Half-Life 2 that game came out in 2004 the same year as Star Wars Battlefront. Just look at the visuals in it, the human faces and the way they move look highly realistic. Not forgetting there brilliant use of Havok Physics adding another dynamic to what would be just another go through the level and shoot everyone. No in Half-Life 2 you have to think about a problem often and solve it logically it isn't just blast your way through to that machine  gun bunker like in Call Of Duty. Then there is Counter Strike which I have never played but let's take a look at the gameplay statistics for it on Steam vs Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Today Counter Strike has had a total of 51,389 players playing it at its peak; Call Of Duty: Modern Warefare 3 on the other hand peak has been 34,027. Counter Strike is 12 years old yet it is still played more than the ever so craved Call Of Duty. And Counter Strike started out as a mod, and now look at what it is that is another great thing about Valve they take mod ideas and turn them into full fledged hyper selling games. Team Fortress started out as a mod being made by two guys they got hired by Valve and ta-da a few years down the track Team Fortress 2 has become the most played game on Steam. The most recent one they are doing is Dota 2 I have never played it but even in its closed beta stage it has more players on Steam than all the other big brands.

Now their technology is simply amazing. Source is as old as Star Wars Battlefront, but it is still a great game engine. It has a whole bunch of features. One of my personal favourite feature is probably the rendering system. It has self-shadowed bump maps, that means the bump maps depth can be seen without light shining on it. The water rendering system looks very pleasing to the eye, although not up to modern methods back in its day it looked very good.  And my favourite High Dynamic Range Rendering, this thing is just wow. The extra depth HDR rendering adds to a game is surprisingly huge one of the cooler features of it is the mimicking of being in a dark room and then walking out into daylight to have your eyes not seeing properly.  There are so many cool features in the engine another one is the AI, they can fight an enemy and work together without being scripted you would never see that in Star Wars Battlefront or Star Wars Battlefront II.

Well I do believe that concludes this little article/rant. You should go and buy Half-Life 2 and Portal if you don't think Valve are amazing. Come back and tell that to me after you have tried one of there games. Valve is definitely worth all of the critical acclaim their games have gotten no question about it.

So now I'm sure we are all acquainted with the addon map limit? Now I will explain the limit to you. The game's limit is not to the number of maps you have installed but rather to the number of mission scripts those maps have. The limit itself is 50, and since most single era maps don't bother to disable the section of code that would have there map counting for 1 script like it should. Each map takes up to mission script slots. So the limit really is 25. I hope this topic has left you with a better understanding of the limit.

So I was in the shower when it struck me what the next SWBF should be. I am a Lego fanatic for life. So the idea struck me Lego Star Wars Battlefront. Just think about it, you could make your own person to play as.

And using Havok's Physics and Havok Destruction you could have totally destroyable battlefields.

Not to mention the possibilities for a level editor.

Come on who think that this would be awesome?

Okay so I have been starting to get into TF2, great game. (Though there is nothing like a classic SWBF game.) And I am having the most strangest problem. Some of the time when I play, join a server and my internet randomly disconnects a couple minutes later. Sometimes it has a done this longer into a play session. it is becoming quite annoying. And I mean disconnects disconnects I can't access anything, Google, Steam, xFire etc And it only happens when I play TF2. So I was wondering if any of you out there had any idea as to what could be causing this. Thanks for any help.

I myself am beginning to suspect that some super natural being doesn't want me playing TF2

Today folks I am going to take you step by step through the arccaster's lightning effect. (Note I do not fully understand it myself. But I will do my best.)

Quote from: Stock Arccaster effect.LightningBolt("arccaster_lightning")
{
   Texture("arccaster_lightning");
   Width(0.5);
   FadeTime(0.6);
   BreakDistance(1.0);
   SpreadFactor(0.8);
   InterpolationSpeed(5.0);
   MaxBranches(3);
   NumChildren(3);
   BranchFactor(0.15);
   ChildWidth(0.4);
   ChildTextureSize(2.0);
   ChildSpreadFactor(1.0);
   TextureSize(3.5);
   Color(130,170,255,250);
   ChildColor(140,180,255,100);
}

LightningBolt("arccaster_lightning")
This line defines the name of the effect that you will call in the ODF.

Texture("arccaster_lightning");
This line defines the name of the texture(.tga file) that will be used when rendering the lightning in-game.

Width(0.5);
The width of the main lightning bolt(s).

FadeTime(0.6);
The time it takes for the lightning to fade. In seconds.

BreakDistance(1.0);
The distance at which the lightning splits apart. Set to a high value like 300 to get a single main bolt.

SpreadFactor(0.8);
The spread factor of the lightning.

InterpolationSpeed(5.0);
Heh, there are several meanings for the word Interpolation. I am not entirely sure which one it refers to, and since I have never needed mess with this setting I would just advise leaving it be.

MaxBranches(3);
The highest number of branches(bolts) the lightning can have.

NumChildren(3);
The highest number of children the lighting can have? It seems to do nothing when messed with.
BranchFactor(0.15);
The branch factor of the lighting.

ChildWidth(0.4);
The width of the children, I do beleive these are the tiny ones that flicker really quickly.

ChildTextureSize(2.0);
How much to scale the texture by for the small bolts when rendering.

ChildSpreadFactor(1.0);
The spread factor of the children.

TextureSize(3.5);
The scale amount for the texture of the lightning.

Color(130,170,255,250);
Colour of the lightning in RGBA use 255 on each value to just use the textures colours.

ChildColor(140,180,255,100);
Same as above only for the smaller bolts.

I was going to post this in the secret forum. but then I decided to get everyone's thoughts.

Man I just had a great idea. If you have access to the secret forum you should read my last topic and you will see my theory on randomly generated maps each play. Well what if we took that concept, same kind of grid based system. And applied it so someone could simply edit a text file which the game would read and load the map from. Something like this.
These are decimal numbers not hex.
11 20 08 14 03
15 19 03 04 05
18 01 08 03 01
12 06 13 17 12
01 03 04 20 02         

The game would read the text file (See here.) and load up the grid squares based on it. Of course ideally you would want a program to edit the text files but I can not imagine that being to hard to make. This would also allow macs to make maps kind of.

Thoughts?

Step right up folks and try your luck. The game is simple guess what this is a picture of. It is not what you first might think. One guess per post.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

This contest is the first step in a modern way to kill sleep. We will be test trialling the new method soon in hopes in succeeds.

Well in case you all haven't noticed I haven't been active around here lately. I have no purpose left to hoard my assets. So you name the assets you want and I will try to get to uploading them over the weekend.

Please be reasonable with your requests I will give anyone anything they ask for. But I don't have time to upload everything else I would.


*SleepKiller is currently hoping someone responds to this so he doesn't look like a fool.*