Rend 2 is a more modern renderer being developed by SomaZ to add features such as: Physically Based Materials, HDR Rendering & HDR Lightmaps, Parallax Occlusion Mapping, and more. Starting next release Movie Battles II will begin to incorporate those modern features in new and old assets.
With this new renderer and release, we will continue to upgrade bits and pieces of Movie Battles II to increase visual fidelity with each update going into the future. However, with an increase in visual fidelity comes an increase in cost. While Rend2 comes with a host of optimizations over the base renderer, definitely expect increased file sizes and increased memory usage when Rend 2 is active. In a coming update to the launcher, downloading Rend 2 assets will be optional for those with space and download restrictions.
For the first Rend 2 update, you can expect to see a subset of the new features in maps like: DOTF, Enclave, Kamino, Lunarbase. In player models like: Sith Trooper, Deathtrooper, Tank Trooper, Mandalorian show Imperial Commandos, as well as weapon models such as the E-22 and A-280. The largest visual difference will be on smoother surfaces with high reflectivity and metallic materials.
Check out some Before and After screenshots below! For an easier comparison open the images in a new tab and flip between the two.
Never before have we been able to start implementing such a large visual upgrade to MB2 as we can now. We hope you are all excited for what is to come.
Please visit the JKHub Rend2 tutorial section for some information about Rend2: Tutorials as well as look for a coming update to the mod tools in order to allow smooth addition of Rend2 content in Movie Battles 2. Levels need -deluxe added to compile lines for normal maps and reflectivity to function properly. However, that comes at a cost of adding additional lightmaps which may result in going over the max lightmap count for JAMP. There is a tool developed by SomaZ coming in the next mod tool update to separate the deluxe maps out to allow JAMP to function properly. Levels also need the new misc_cubemap entity added across the map.
As always, feel free to ask questions on how to create Rend2 content on Discord and the forums!
Manaan is a new level based on the iconic location, 'Ahto City' from Knight of the Old Republic.
Enclave is a level that has been overdue for changes for about a decade. The southern, or right side route (from Rebel perspective) has always been too...
A look back at the original Movie Battles beta release 20 years ago and a preview of new Mandalorian content.
In the next update to Capture The Flag, Resupply Nodes are being added in order to give people opportunities to sustain the fight. These resupply nodes...
This is the full release for V1.10.0.5. It is suitable for Linux, Windows and MacOS systems, including server hosts.
This is the incremental update for V1.10.0.4 to V1.10.0.5. It is suitable for Linux, Windows and MacOS systems, including server hosts.
This is the incremental update for V1.10.0.1 to V1.10.0.4. It is suitable for Linux, Windows and MacOS systems, including server hosts.
This is the full release for V1.10.0.1. It is suitable for Linux, Windows and MacOS systems, including server hosts.
This is the full release for V1.9.3.1. It is suitable for Linux, Windows and MacOS systems, including server hosts.
This is the incremental update for V1.9.2.2 to V1.9.3.1. It is suitable for Linux, Windows and MacOS systems, including server hosts.
Forgot about this game for quite a long time. Played Jedi Knight since it released, tons back in the day and havne't played much in the past 10-15 years now. Briefly played this mod a few years back but the community was entirely hostile to new players and my first match I got randomnly teamkilled and then called racial slurs when I asked a question about the game modes and then banned later when someone accused me of being some guys alt account for some reason.
Other servers weren't much kinder and outside of a few players I met over some time, pretty much everyone was just awful.
Haven't played it in a long time still, but sad to hear from others that the community is still small and miserable. Unfortunately this isn't unique to this mod as most older games and mods have small communities of people who have played way too much and are bored of the game but just can't leave it, and just can't help but being hostile and repulsing any new blood to the game on instinct.
Also always thought it was a crying shame the devs put so much effort into all the interesting maps and different classes and scenarios but 99% of the regular players only insist on playing on the same map with the same mode with either a sniper or a jedi and nothing else, been like that for years before I first played and been like that for years after.
I can understand why the community is toxic (except the racism part)
I found Movie Battles 2 while i was searching for a "For Honor like game". If you don't know for honor is a 3D sword game with a extreme toxic community.
My friends and i had around 900 hours. We were average but we knew the "tech" even if we couldn't pull it off everytime. In for honor if you do have a slightly bad player on your side, you are basically ******, game is ruined for others. The same goes for the opposite. If there is synergy among team, you are 4 literal gods walking on the map.
Once we tried to tutor a newbie, who was eager to learn the heroes, mechanics, techs etc. First couple days it was ok, we "tolerated" the consecutive losses we had. But he insisted upon losing after hours of sparring. Ultimately everyone became frustrated, left the game and we never talked ever again lol.
When you master the game, you want everything to be perfect, you become less welcoming and more toxic towards noobs, even when you actively try your best to be friendly. (In your case, sometimes you get bored of the game and prey on the newbies, because its free lulz and ego-booster for the mr sweaty balls)
high skill ceiling + incentivizing competitive + ****** humans == small community
Also i got the same newbie treatment in Movie Battles 2, Mordhau, Natural Selection 2 even in most friendly game, Team Fortress 2. (Tho valve maimed tf2 by adding muh competitive mode, game has still good people compared to "competitive by nature Overwatch 2" which is rotting six feet under)
Anyways, enough rambling from me, best you can do is, soldiering on and ignoring these kind of people.
Make an AI (Bot)
We would love to, but sadly do not have the resources to make competent bots.
sadly
As there are no bots, is there single-player option just to try out each map on my own?
There is the Create a Server menu that you can use to start a local server on whatever map you wish. (Play -> Create in the main menu)
If you setup rcon or smod you can then change the map through the moderate menu when in-game. Or you can use the /map mapname command in console (shift + `) to change to a specific map.
How do I add bots to my servers?
In MB2, there are no bots (they removed them), since according to the developers, artificial intelligence is poorly adapted to the MB2 engine, although I heard that in the future they plan to introduce bots (but only with lightsabers).
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