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America's Army: Special Forces (Coalition) Release Notes (Version 2.8.0)

WHAT'S NEW

New America's Army Mission Editor:

America's Army: Special Forces Coalition (v2.8) is proud to debut the AA Mission Editor, which is based on the actual UnrealEd tools used by the Development Team in the creation of multiplayer missions such as SF Hospital and Interdiction.

The Mission Editor will enable America's Army players to modify existing levels and/or create new levels using any of the existing art, sound, particle effects and gameplay assets created by the Dev Team. All player-created levels and missions will contain a unique signature in the map file to allow clear identification when submitting a final version for review. Only maps submitted to Mission Depot (http://www.aamissiondepot.com) will be reviewed and certified for approval. Once a player-created level or mission has been approved it will be hosted on Official America's Army servers for everyone to enjoy.

To help get you started we've included two special, "tutorial" maps, which explain the basic UnrealEd Tools and define the America's Army mission creation process. As these are the actual tools used by our developers, who've had years of practice understanding their nuances, the overall ease-of-use will vary by individual.

Ultimately, creating missions for America's Army using the Mission Editor will
require patience and probably a bit of trial and error - but with some practice maybe you can be creating the next great Multiplayer Combat experiences in America's Army!

More information regarding the editor can be found at http://manual.americasarmy.com.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (have not changed):

The current Minimum System Requirements for AA:SF (Coalition) are as follows:


* 3-D graphics card with 128 MB memory and support for hardware transformation and lighting
* 2.4 GHz processor or equivalent
* English version of Windows(r) 2000/XP Operating System with latest updates
* 512 MB RAM
* 3.5GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
* 4X DVD-ROM (not required for downloaded installations)
* Windows 2000/XP compatible system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card, sound card, mouse and keyboard)
* DirectX(r)9.0
* 100% Compatible DirectX 9.0 soundcard
* 56kbps Modem or other network connection
* NVIDIA(r) nForce(tm) or other motherboards/soundcards containing the Dolby(r) Digital Interactive Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital audio



The current Recommended System Requirements for AA:SF (Coalition) are as follows:


* 3-D graphics card with 256 MB memory and support for hardware transformation and lighting
* 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent
* English version of Windows(r) 2000/XP Operating System with all updates
* 1 GB RAM
* 3.5GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
* 4X DVD-ROM (not required for downloaded installation)
* Windows 2000/XP compatible system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card, sound card, mouse and keyboard)
* DirectX(r) 9.0
* 100% Compatible DirectX 9.0 soundcard
* Broadband Network Connection *Nvidia® nForce™ or other motherboard/soundcards containing Dolby Digital® Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital® audio.



TECHNICAL NOTES

** IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SERVER HOSTS/ADMINS **

NOTE: The cooperative missions will take significantly more CPU resources to run during normal gameplay due to the additional AI processing load (shared between the server & client). Server hosts planning to run Co-Op servers should plan accordingly. In addition, players running a Co-Op server and client on the same machine will experience heavy CPU demand.

It is recommended that server rotations switch only from Co-Op level to Co-Op level, or MP to MP level forbest performance.


NETWORK PORT REQUIREMENTS:

The internet ports currently required to be open for America's Army v2.8 are listed below:

UDP - 1716, 1717, 1718, 8777, 27900
TCP - 14200, 20025-45, 20046, 20047, 20048, 28910

UDP ports explained:
1716 for the Game
1717 for the GameQuery
1718 for the Master Server Query
8777 for the Standard UT Query
27900 for GameSpy

TCP ports explained:
28910 for GameSpy
20025-45 for MBS Game Server
20046 for the Auth server
20047 for MBS
20048 for DCDS
14200 for LAN


WHAT'S FIXED

NOTE: This list only includes bugs present in v2.7 that have been fixed.
(Security/exploit related bugs are not included in this list.)


[Admin Command]


* Admin forceclass all can not forceclass sniper
* Player admin can spectate other players while still alive
* Multiple Weapons missing from drop down selection list on "Player" tab in AdminCP


[A.I.]


* Civilians die from inconsistent amounts of damage, give random amounts of ROE


[Audio]


* CommoWhisper 23 "grenade" is very quiet.


[Crash/Server Related/Admin Commands]


* Mission completion and weapons stats not being updated for co-op maps
* Super admins lose the ability to spectate players if they mouse click between rounds.


[Gameplay]


* Hits & kills with CROWS are not reporting in stats
* Hitting or killing an enemy vehicle doesn't show up in player statistics, but the Shots Fired does
* CROWS & SAI compass: 90 Degree discrepancy
* Going to prone position while holding grenade causes grenade release.


[Map Specific]


* Eagle Tower: Ground at the base of Eagle Tower has the wrong material property for environmental audio
* Interdiction: Comm volume in Northern Entrance tunnel is misspelled
* Medic Field Training: HUD text instruction player to follow 'Compass'
* SF Courtyard: Player pawn gets stuck on East Courtyard Ladder
* SF Courtyard: Player pawn gets stuck on East Upper Walkway Ladder
* SF CSAR: Rubble static mesh does not fully cover roof
* SF Extraction: NPC civilian blocks rear bus doorway
* SF Snakeplain: Player receives an incorrect death message upon going in the well
* SF SnakePlain: POW is unable to run if he does not pick up a weapon
* SF SnakePlain: No points awarded for destroying tanks or BTR
* SF Snakeplain: One of the ladders at a QRF has bad collision
* SF Snakeplain: Player is unable to step off ladder at bottom to kneel to get into tunnel entrance at QRF
* SF Snakeplain: ReportIn locations for East and West Courtyard are reversed
* SF Snakeplain: Player is able to get to unintended place
* SF SnakePlain: Zoning issue at door in one of the QRF locations
* SF SnakePlain: Player is able to get stuck at Mamba Mezzanine
* Urban Assault: Blocking volume above overhang near west objective does not let thrown objects pass through


[Server/Browser Related]


* Engine.LevelInfo.debugThis:0000 --- Recursion Error
* Pings do not resolve in MBS, remain listed as question marks
* LAN Name isn't saved when double clicking server name
* 'Erope' location filter should be called 'Europe (other)'
* NPC Logs still present when running a game server
* Server Filters Sets are not saving
* Coop Rounds will not start if "MinNetPlayers" is set higher then 1
* Accessed None: AGP_Interface.AATraining_Overview.TrainingNMLPreParser
* Too many unnecessary queries from client to MBS server are impacting MBS performance


[U.I.]


* Console key randomly quits working
* Login page shows "Invalid Password" dialog box twice if invalid password is entered
* Mouseover text is incorrect on "save results" button for Weapons Fam level
* Mouseover text on "Save Training" button for Eagle Tower level is incorrect
* Tool tip for Deploy button is "Deploy"
* Real Hero badge description pane should reset when a new real hero is selected from the drop down


[Mission Editor]


* User is unable to move Mission Editor to different screen (dual monitors)
* Building a tetrahedron with a sphere extrapolation above 8 will result in a critical error
* Review paths feature causes critical error when no paths are present
* Clicking Fog Button When Editor Panes Have Lost Focus Causes Crash
* Opening a user created map file while there is no internet connection results in a "Map CPS failure"
* Editor can be closed without prompt for saving map
* Making a simple map with a few static meshes, saving and then closing the Editor will result in a save message
* The taskbar icon that appears when the Editor is first launched differs from the taskbar icon when the Editor is open
* The Editor freezes once it is launched


[Vehicles]


* Getting in and out of the HMMWV triggers a black screen and softlocks the player
* BMP-1 gives inaccurate death message; it is not equipped with 115mm HE as stated in message
* HMMWV engine sound occasionally drops out


[Weapons]


* Player able to change/force/silent class to M870 Shotgun



KNOWN ISSUES

White/missing viewports
When the Editor is launched, the viewports will appear to be missing or all white.
To resolve this issue simply go to "View > Viewports > Configure ...", select one of the options and click OK.

Brightness/Gamma
When the Editor is launched the brightness/gamma will be increased.
Adjustments to the gamma can be made in "View > Gamma Options".

Unable to select any map objects (static meshes, brushes, etc.) using right or left mouse click
This issue is specific to systems with ATI graphics cards and occurs due to Anti-Aliasing and/or Anisotropic Filtering being enabled. Disabling these settings has been shown to resolve the problem.

Dual Monitor Setup: Unable to move the Editor from one monitor to the other.
This issue is specific to systems with ATI graphics cards. To resolve this issue, click the View menu and uncheck the "Automatically reposition windows".


America's Army Server Manager (AASM):

Installation and Uninstallation Notes

To remove previous installations (or if the install fails and is unable to automatically remove the previous version)
do the following:


1. Download and install from Microsoft the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. You can retrieve it from Microsoft on this webpage: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301
2. Delete the contents of the AASM folder (unless you are planning on installing the new AASM 1.5 version provided with 2.8.0, in which case simply skip this step).
3. Run the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility and select the "America's Army Server Manager 1.0" (or 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 depending on which version you have installed) from the list. The utility will remove it from your Add/Remove programs list.


For help using AASM please see the provided manual or press F1 to get help for specific portions of the program.