Aircraft Update, and a Casting Call! news - Operation Remembrance mod for Battlefield Vietnam

V1.1 of Operation Remembrance is coming along well, and the changes I mentioned in the last article about making realistic models for more aircraft weapons have been finished. Here are a few pictures of some of the many aircraft and weapon loadout variations that will be available.

Read on past the pictures to see my request for help. You could be one of the people I'm looking for!

Right: An A4 Skyhawk armed with Mk83 1,000 lb. bombs. Left: An F-4B Phantom II armed with AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, as well as an SUU-16 gunpod.

An A-1H Skyraider carrying M31 napalm cluster bombs.

An F-4E Phantom armed with an internal M61 Vulcan autocannon, AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, a full load of Mk82 500 lb. bombs, and a 600-gallon external fuel tank.

Right: A UH-1M Huey armed with the M22 guided missile system. Left: A standard UH-1M gunship armed with the M21 armament subsystem, which includes twin XM158 FFAR rocket pods, dual M134 Miniguns, and the M75 automatic grenade launcher.

An A-7 Corsair armed with LAU-10/A rocket pods loaded with Mk16 Zuni rockets.

An F-105D Thunderchief carrying a full load of M117 750 lb. demolition bombs.

*************************************************The Call For Help*****************************************************

Along with other changes and updates for V1.1, I'd like to record completely new in-game character dialogue to replace the existing audio. That's what I'm looking for volunteers for, and the more actors I can get, the better. Each faction has four different character models, and I'd like to give each character a unique voice. I'm looking for several different types of people, including:

1 to 12 Americans, male, age 20-35.

1 to 12 native Vietnamese speakers, male, age 20-35

1 to 3 Australian/New Zealanders, male, age 20-35. (I already have one Australian, my awesome buddy TanTwo from YouTube, so I just need three others.)

The only thing you need to do this is a good microphone and a natural accent of the nationality you're playing. It's not a problem if there's a small amount of background noise or static in your recording. I can clean that up myself, and also do the editing to add in the static effect for the radio transmission dialogue. For the Vietnamese voices, however, I will have to insist that at least one of the actors MUST be fluent in both English and Vietnamese. I need someone to do accurate translations so I know that the Vietnamese dialogue is being done correctly. As long as I can get one person who speaks Vietnamese and English, I'd be perfectly happy to accept volunteers who only speak Vietnamese.

If you're interested in performing for one of these voices, record a short sample of yourself recreating some of the lines from the game in .wav or .mp3 format and send it to bfv.operationremembrance@gmail.com. The ideal recording will have 2-3 seconds of silence (to allow me to determine background noise levels and get samples for noise reduction) followed by you reading off three or four lines. If I pick you as one of my actors, I'll reply with a full script of all the dialogue recordings I need. All contributers will get full credit when the update is released, and I might even reward contributers with extra sneak peeks at mod content before the release date.

IMPORTANT EDIT: Soon I will have a translated script for Vietnamese dialogue that I can send to Vietnamese speakers who do not understand English. This means that I WILL be able to accept voice acting submissions from non-English speaking Vietnamese.

*************************************************Not Just Voice Actors*****************************************************

In addition to voice actors, I'm also looking to bring on a few people capable of modeling and texturing with the 3dsMax system. I'm specifically looking for people who can create new character models, because I'd like to replace all of the existing models with new ones, particularly to give all of the factions more realistic uniforms. Having people who can do this would also make it possible for Operation Remembrance to be the first Battlefield Vietnam mod to feature the SOUTH KOREAN faction, which I would love to add and which has been requested by several different people.

Although this is a lower priority, it would also be nice if I could get people capable of doing vehicle/weapon modeling and texturing, including animating weapons and tank treads. I'd love to update some of the old vehicle and weapon models with newer, more realistic versions. Things on my list to do if that becomes possible would be to move the AK-47's charging handle to the right side the way it should be, fix the reversed model for M16-pattern rifles so the ejection port and forward assist are on the correct side, and update a lot of the vehicle models.

*************************************************A Few Other Features*****************************************************

In addition to what I've mentioned above and in the previous article, there are a few other things I'd like to bring up for players to look out for.

As of now, I can confirm V1.1 will come with a completely revised ammunition system. Small arms are now resupplied based on the team the supply source is affiliated with, regardless of which team the player is on. So if you have an M1 Garand or an M16, for example, it doesn't matter if you're playing as the Allies or the Communists, you'll only be able to pick up ammunition from Allied ammunition boxes, APCs, or supply trucks. If you have an SKS, AK-47, or other Communist weapon, you'll only be able to resupply it from Axis ammunition boxes, APCs, or supply trucks. The only exceptions to this are a few weapons that are used by both sides, like the Thompson, M1/M2 Carbines, and M1911, which can be supplied from either team's ammunition boxes.

Rocket launchers and grenade launchers can no longer be supplied from regular ammunition boxes and instead must be resupplied from higher-level supply sources like APCs and supply trucks.

Tanks and other vehicles will no longer pick up main gun ammunition from regular supply boxes or from APCs, although they'll still be able to pick up ammunition for machine guns (not including 0.50 caliber ammunition for the M2 Browning or DShK) from these supply boxes and APCs. Main gun ammunition for tanks is now only provided by certain supply trucks, and vehicle "bays" which will be similar to the helipads that repair and resupply helicopters but are made for ground vehicles. I'll have more on the details of this and what these "bays" will look like later. Just like small arms, vehicles can only be supplied with ammunition from a source affiliated with their team. So you won't be able to reload a Sheridan's ammunition by driving up to a Communist Ural-375D cargo truck no matter which side you're on, and you won't be able to refill a T-54's ammunition by driving it into an Allied vehicle bay.

Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft will also be held under this stricter, team-based supply system, and now reload their ammunition much, much more slowly. In many cases, it'll only be possible to resupply an aircraft by completely landing it. It might be tempting to just crash the aircraft and let it respawn, but I'm also going to drastically increase the respawn times for aircraft to minimize people trying to exploit the system that way.

There will be several new cargo truck variants that can resupply all small arms (including rocket launchers) and ground vehicles, both by being in proximity to a vehicle that needs resupplying or by deploying stationary supply crates. There will also be new aircraft added, including versions of the Huey, Chinook, and Mi-8 that can drop these supply crates by parachute. Airdroppable supplies will also be possible from the C-47 Skytrain and the NEW C-130 Hercules!

My hope with these changes to the ammunition system is to make the game a little more difficult and realistic. It will also force players to use different strategies. APCs, supply trucks, and aircraft capable of dropping supply crates will become much more important when moving into enemy territory, and the increased reload time for aircraft will make them less overpowered, helping to balance gameplay.

Another feature I've added is a new "weapon": your character's fists. That's right, it's now possible to literally punch your enemies to death on the battlefield. Apart from the comedic value, this "weapon" technically serves almost no practical purpose, as it's basically the same as the knife/machete that can be found in all kits but with a weaker attack, but the significant thing is that it can be used to fill up weapon slots to allow for the replacement of other weapons with this "punch" mode. What this means is that it will allow me to alter the kit system by removing handguns from kits that shouldn't have them. Contrary to what many games, including Battlefield Vietnam, often portray, most soldiers don't carry handguns. Handguns are typically carried by commissioned and non-commissioned officers, machine gunners, and certain other support troops. V1.1 will reflect this, with most kits like riflemen and medics no longer having handguns. Most kits will keep their knife/machete and have their handgun replaced with the punch "weapon" to fill that slot and keep all of the other weapons in the correct positions for bot usage. Only a few classes will have both a knife/machete AND a handgun, and the Officer class will likely wind up having the punch and a handgun, but no knife/machete.

Lastly, for those of you who haven't seen the video I posted recently, V1.1 will also introduce an innovative feature that, as far as I know, has never been done before: the ability to dig foxholes to hide in. Rifleman kits will have their handgun replaced with a shovel that can be used to "dig" a foxhole, which is basically a "vehicle" that is entered the same way as any other vehicle, and protects most of the player's body from gunfire while still allowing them to fire at the enemy. Riflemen can dig two foxholes, but the foxholes cannot be "picked up" the way the Communist tunnel spawn can.

Additionally, the Crew-Served Weapon class will also benefit from a foxhole-based addition: the foxhole machine gun. This is the same as the existing tripod-mounted machine gun that the current version of Operation Remembrance provides to that class, but in conjunction with the foxhole system. This works side by side with the regular deployable tripod-mounted gun, which has been retained, but there are tradeoffs: the tripod-mounted gun can turn in a full circle, but leaves the operator completely exposed, while the foxhole machine gun gives the operator a high amount of protection from enemy fire but has a limited field of aim from right to left. This means that if you're defending a position where the enemy could come from multiple directions, the regular tripod-mounted gun is better. But if you're defending a position and know the enemy can only come from one direction, like a road or base gate/entrance, the foxhole machine gun is superior. Unlike regular foxholes, machine gun foxholes CAN be picked up to move them to different locations.