MechWarrior Living Legends November Development Update + Crysis Wars news

Greetings MechWarrior: Living Legends fans! The MWLL team is pleased to bring you a summary update of our development progress as we near the release of our 0.4.0 public beta. This update includes an overview of our Playtest Impressions media, media releases for our new TC Death Valley and TC Kagoshima maps and a discussion of our new Leage Mode support features. We are also pleased to announce that we have completed a full port to the Crysis Wars platform and will be releasing parallel support for both the original Crysis and Crysis Wars.

Playtest Impressions

We have uploaded all of our playtest impressions screenshots here at moddb.com for your enjoyment. Here is a selection of our favourites:

New Map - TC Death Valley

Set on a remote centurion moon, mankind started extracting the rich resources found on and below its surface. Rock formations can be used as cover by both Clan and Inner Sphere units while they battle to gain control over this desolate outpost. Who will prevail in this struggle? Only time will tell...

There will be plenty of room on this map to make use of aerospace assets and fast moving units. Terrain formations can be used as cover while advancing towards the enemy bases. After taking the bases you will have to hold your ground to win this battle!

New Map - TC Kagoshima

This planet located in the Draconis Combine is the target of a Clan assault force attempting to capture its food resources for their invasion force. Hidden in a valley surround by steep mountains, enriched by large growing trees that cover your advance to capture one of the many bases that protect the farmers in this area. Your next step might be your last one as curvy roads and impenetrable forest slow down the attack and give the defenders the advantage that they might need to win this round. Those with a an eye towards ambush tactics are sure to love this map.

Looking at these screen captures you can really see how our Senior Level Designer Sannyassi succeeded in making this environment come alive. He was able to squeeze every last bit of detail and immersion out of CryEngine2. You will enjoy running around in the mist looking for your next target while wondering if every tree around you may conceal a possible possible ambush.

League Mode Support Features

For release 0.4.0 we have developed a robust set of League Mode support options realised in the form of optional CVARs that server administrators may configure. Since the resulting game environment can differ significantly from the standard MWLL game experience a notification message will be displayed to all players at the begining of their session on League Mode enabled servers. The final format for this message is still to be determined, but our current working version was hinted at here.

Here is an overview of the available cvar controls for 0.4.0.

sv_leaguemode_enabled [0,1] default is 0 and signifies standard MWLL gameplay, 1 will enable the League Mode client message notification, and unlock all subsequent league mode CVAR options.

sv_leaguemode_turrets [0,1,2] default is 1 and enables turrets, 0 is league mode and disables turret firing, 2 is reserved for "enhanced turret modes" that will be revealed in a future update.

sv_leaguemode_repair [0,1] default is 1 and enables repair in hangars, 0 is league mode and disables repair functions of hangars VTOL pads and aerospace runways.

sv_leaguemode_vsale [0,1] default is 1 and allows users to sell back vehicles at the calculated valuation, 0 is league mode and disables vehicle resale.

sv_leaguemode_cbtx [0,1] default is 1 and allows players to transfer C-Bills between one another, 0 is league mode and disables c-bill transfers between players.

sv_leaguemode_purchasemode [0,1,2] default is 1 and allows all player to purchase all asset types (vehicles, ammo, equipment) from all Buy Zones. 0 is a league mode option and disables ALL purchasing options from all Buy Zones after sv_leaguemode_purchasetimer has expired. 2 is a league mode option and disables all vehicle purchasing options from all Buy Zones after sv_leaguemode_purchasetimer has expired but still allows players to purchase vehicle ammunition and infantry equipment.

sv_leaguemode_purchasetimer [xxx] time in seconds from game session start that Buy Area purchasing is enabled for all players, after this time limit runs out, all Buy Areas on the map are deactivated or changed based on the setting of sv_leaguemod_purchasemode A timer is displayed to all players as a countdown ex. "PTimer: 37 sec".

sv_leaguemode_exittimer [xxx] time in seconds that an auto-kill zone surrounding bases is active prior to match start, exiting the defined base area before the timer expires will automatically kill the offending player; The Buy Zone is currently used to define the no-kill areas at Mech hangars and aerospace bases. Timer is displayed as a countdown to all players. The use of the Buy Zone makes older maps backwards compatible. Timer is displayed to all players as "ExitTimer: 107 sec"

sv_leaguemode_jointimer [xxx] Time in seconds from the start of the game during which players may join a game in progress.

sv_leaguemode_joinmode [0,1] Where 1 is the default and allows players to join the game in progress at all times. 0 is league mode and disables new players/spectators from joining the server (including disconnects) after the timer has expired as set by sv_leaguemode_jointimer until the start of the next match.

sv_leaguemode_activeeject [0,1] Where 1 is the default and allows players to initiate an active ejection from their vehicle at all times. When set to 0, active ejection is disallowed and players may only exit from ejection-seat capable vehicles (i.e. 'Mechs) by first powering down. When enabled pressing "F" or any key bound to the ejection command whilst the player vehicle is in a powered up state will result the command being ignored.

sv_leaguemode_aerorearm [0,1] Where 1 is the default and allows aerospace and VTOLs to rearm by performing a low pass over the aero field or VTOL pad, respectively. When enabled with a 0 setting, aerospace must land on the aerospace runway and come to a complete stop in order to enable Buy Menu actions. For VTOLs they must land on the VTOL pad and come to rest before the Buy Menu is enabled.

Crysis Wars Support

We are pleased to announce support for the Crysis Wars multiplayer platform with the forthcoming release of MechWarrior: Living Legends 0.4.0 public beta. We are still chasing down a few bugs with our Wars binary, but we have it fully functioning and stable for our weekly playtests.

We expect to release our 0.4.0 version within the next few weeks and will make a formal announcement here upon release.