Feature list and information about first release! news

Like I promised, here is a list of features as well as some other information regarding the first release of the mod!

The first release will be a standalone release that will not require an already-installed copy of Battlefield 2. You simply download the mod to play, much like with how the Project Reality team went with their mod. The reason for us going this route is simple, and we have two reasons why we will have it this way: Battlefield 2 is a very old game that is abandon-ware and free-to-play, and therefore it is hard to acquire it. EA/DICE already dropped support for the game. Secondly, in order for the mod to have Battlefield 2: Special Forces integrated with the main game, we had to make it standalone, otherwise the night maps of BF2SF would not work packed together with normal BF2. It has something to do with a shader issue that nobody can fix.

So yes, in the first release you will have the main game integrated with Special Forces, as well as the two booster packs - Armored Fury and Euro Force. For us to have accomplished this took a very long time of trial and error, and much needed patience, but it was all worth it at the end of the day. Now you can launch the mod and have access to all BF2 content without needing to change mods to have access to the rest. Another great benefit of having all the boosters and expansions merged with the main game is that now it is possible to make use of all of their content in vanilla maps. To give an example, it is now possible to have the Apache helicopter on Operation Road Rage; the possibilities are endless really, and it is very easy to make your own map variations now.

So with that all explained now, below is a list with a few features that you will have in the first release

- High Definition HUD elements

Thanks to Memb3r from the HDUI mod, he allowed me to use a modified version of his mod in mine. I continued where he left off and expanded the HD goodness to all the expansion content too. Ingame satellite map will also be HD now which will allow you to see details much easier. All the fonts in the game are also much clearer now, making it much better for reading.

- Improved graphics (HDR, longer view-distances, detail textures, HD lightmaps etc.)

Maps will have HD lightmaps. This is one of the defining features of this mod. It is very difficult to implement and requires a lot of detail and refinement before it can be released for a map. I am unsure if this will be done on all the maps for the first release, but I can assure you that this will have its place in the first release; whether it is on 3 maps only, it will feature. Also, another thing that will be interesting to see in this mod is the use of HDR. It was added to BF2:SF to make the night vision look much better and more realistic, but I found a way to implement this into the game outside of the night vision. Now, maps will have a lot more glow to it, but not to an extent where it will negatively affect your vision. It is just giving the game a more less-dull look with brighter colours and more saturation. Another thing that you will notice is a higher field of view (FoV) as well as higher view distances. I can assure you, these images have not been photoshopped. Everything that you see here is purely ingame footage. Also, I haven't had the time to render the terrain lightmaps for Oman yet, but once I will have, I will try to add another comparison like the images below.

- More vehicles (Lynx, Harrier, Forger)

Both the Lynx and Harrier air vehicles were cut from the booster packs. I made a goal to include these in the mod, and both will feature. The Lynx will be the new transport helicopter for the EU team (as evident by the previous media releases), while the Harrier will be assigned to the US as a new jet that is part of its own class. It is in a way a combination of the normal attack jet and the bomber class jet like the A10. It has machine guns, rocket pods (which makes it entirely different to any other jet class) and lastly it has a deadly arsenal of bombs that will make it easier to take out ground units. The counterpart to the Harrier is the Forger jet, and it will be assigned to both the MEC and Chinese factions. Thanks a lot to Clivewil from the AIX2 mod that provided permission for me to use these two jets in my mod. And also a big thanks to the Project Reality devs for allowing me to use the Lynx helicopter too. Without your contributions, my mod would not have been the same!

- Chinese faction with desert skins

It always bothered me that there isn't enough variation with how the teams were set up. The Chinese team always featured on woodland maps. Part of the mod's goals is to have them on desert maps as well. They will have new textures for both the soldier skins and vehicles that will make them much more suitable for desert environments. Unfortunately I haven't started with these skins at all, and it is one of the few things that will be part of the first release that I haven't started with. Hopefully I will have a media release later this year where I can show them off.

- MEC faction with woodland skins

Basically the opposite with the MEC folks. They only featured on desert maps and DICE never thought of variation here. Well, that was until they had decided to add them to the Armored Fury maps which pits them against the US forces on non-desert areas like Operation Harvest and Road Rage. I always hated how they continued using their desert skins on these maps. Their vehicles stood out like a sore thumb, and it wasn't really consistent with the environment. Luckily, I already made some new, good looking woodland MEC skins. So far I have completed all the woodland variations, except for the two helicopters and the MEC player textures; those will come later. You can see a few here of those that are done. Also, check on the image section of this mod for more images on this topic:

- Many bug-fixes for well-known game issues

The main game is fine for the most part, but the expansion pack and boosters were riddled with inconsistencies and irritating bugs. This is most apparent when looking at the new vehicles they added. The Tiger chopper is so broken that you can't even land it safely without losing damage; somehow DICE made the Tiger's wheels the wrong material where it is metal instead of rubber. So each time you land, even gently, you'll lose a bunch of life. It is ridiculous really, but these are the type of issues that are already fixed in my mod. The same issue was with the Littlebird. You can try to land with it, but you had to go in so gently for the landing zone, otherwise you would've lost more than 50% armor. I can go on and on with these type of issues, but for now this paragraph will have to suffice. In the first release all the bug-fixes will be listed in a changelog file.

- New animations for all handheld items

Now this is where this mod gets me excited, and hopefully you guys too! I hired Develop013 to reanimate the entire game's arsenal of handheld weapons, including those from the expansions/boosters, as well as new guns that were never in the game. What you will get is Battlefield 2 like you have never seen it before, with higher quality animations that are very consistent across the board. The weapons really feel more lifelike and not so clunky and weak. They will also sound a bit different, to accommodate the new animations. Weapon handling will be mostly the same, although from now on it will be much easier to shoot using the zoom/sights due to improved weapon accuracy. So to bottom-line this, the weapons will act the same way, however, when you use the sights the accuracy will be a tad higher. Not to such a degree where the the weapons are overly accurate, but to a degree where the sights are actually meaningful. In default BF2 using the sights made no difference in the accuracy of your weapon, unless you were using a sniper of course. Now with this mod, your accuracy will increase a bit as you aim and fire. Now to get back on topic, the animations will really be one of the unique features of this mod, and I will try to compile a few videos later for a next update to showcase them.

- New weapons

So, am I the only one getting bored and irritated playing Battlefield 2: Special Forces seeing that the so-called "new factions" of the expansions have almost no uniqueness to them? Well, I certainly don't like it. Part of the mod's goals is to provide these new factions with new weaponry that will fit better to the factions' theme's. For instance, for the Rebel faction, instead of having AK101's for their assault and medic classes, now they will have ordinary AK47's that is even different from those seen on the Chinese factions. The rebel faction will also get access to the PKM for the support faction, but since that isn't any new weapon, I guess I shouldn't mention it here. A better example would be this: for the Spetsnaz faction you will now have access to the AEK971 when playing as the medic class, and you will also be able to use the PKP Pecheneg LMG as the Support class. Last example: the insurgent faction will now have access to the UZI when playing as the anti-tank class.

But yes, you get the idea. Remixed classes of Special Forces factions to make them more unique by having them using new weapons. The changes won't affect the gameplay too much, since much of the new guns are stat-clones of the original ones, so in the end they are mostly aesthetic in nature.

- New maps

Another big feature of this mod is to have expanded content in the form of new maps. And no, this won't be your ordinary maps that you can download from BF2 mod sites. These maps aim to be extensions to the expansion packs, so overall these new maps will feature booster/expansion content. A perfect example of this would be to use the first new map on the list as reference. It is called Red Gorge and it will be an Armoured Fury map that will utilise that specific booster's content, along with extras. It will also be the first map to make use of the Harrier and Forger jets. As for the map's theme, it takes place in the arid areas of Arizona, USA, around a small city that is adjacent to a river that leads from a dam reservoir to a hydro-electric dam. This map will also be the first map to feature the Chinese faction on desert terrain with their new high-quality desert textures. More info on this map will come later this year in the form of an update. I will try to include both the desert Chinese textures and this map's screenshots in the next update, so watch this mod if you would like to get more info on that.

As for other maps, many are planned, but we haven't started production on them like Red Gorge. Making maps right now isn't the main priority, and therefore I cannot specify how many new unique maps will feature in the first release. Expect at least Red Gorge for the first version.

We might also include a new Special Forces night map in the first release, because this specific map won't be too hard to make, but all depends on how far we will get with the more important features.

- Extended singleplayer gameplay

What does this mean? You might think. Well, all that this means is that in this mod you will be able to play all your favorite BF2 maps with bots on the larger map layers. This won't end just there - there will also be 64 player layers for maps that never had that specific layer. That means that you will now be able to play on Great Wall, Taraba Quarry and Operation Smoke Screen with bots on an extended 64 map layer!
Another singleplayer related changes that have already been made are improved AI, no more bot grenade spam and overall a much more fun singleplayer experience with bots.

- Conclusion

This is all I can reveal for what we will have in store for the first release. It is a pretty hefty list of contents to include, and therefore I should also say that the first release should not be expected this year. We plan to release the mod somewhere in 2017 with all the aforementioned content. It is very difficult to give an exact date, because we are only a small team and we all have real lives to care about. I myself work 45 hours a week and that leaves little time for modding at the end of the day. I ask that you guys continue to support us through the way, and that you bear with us till the first release. If you want to join our team, then please, by all means contact me by sending a private message. At this moment we are in need of a modeller and sound artist, and we could use a lot of help in those departments.

Thank you for reading, as well as for taking interest in this project.

- The Obscure