America's Army: SF (Downrange) released

[Beren]

"The newest version v2.1 of AA:SF, codename America's Army: Special Forces (Downrange) has been released, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 for Windows, Mac, and Linux clients. This latest release in the America's Army game series continues to focus on the critical, specialized role of the Army's Special Forces within the U.S. Army as they fight the Global War on Terrorism, but expands the scope to include Stryker vehicles, and the M136 AT4."

Continued...

[Beren]

The newest version (v2.1) of AA:SF, codename America's Army: Special Forces (Downrange) has been released, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 for Windows, Mac, and Linux clients. This latest release in the America's Army game series continues to focus on the critical, specialized role of the Army's Special Forces within the U.S. Army as they fight the Global War on Terrorism, but expands the scope to include Stryker vehicles, and the M136 AT4.

New in this edition of America's Army is the implementation of the Karma Physics Engine. This new feature applies real life physics to all player characters in the game producing real-time unique animations for each character during gameplay. These unique animations are calculated using real life physics as well as many other factors including, the gun/bullet type used, the distance from a frag grenade, the damage location on the body, etc..

AA:SF (SFAS) also includes the following new features and improvements:

New weapon available:
The M136 AT4 (the Army's primary light anti-tank weapon) is a recoilless rifle used primarily by Infantry Forces for engagement and defeat of light armor.

New Stryker Armored Vehicle:
This version of America's Army introduces the Army's new Interim Armored Vehicle, a.k.a. the Stryker. The Stryker vehicle is currently implemented as a stationary vehicle with a fully functioning .50 cal turret usable by the player. The Stryker turret zoom in/out keys are defaulted to the MouseWheelUp and MouseWheelDown keys, however they can be changed through the settings menu.

New RPG and AT4 3D Ironsights with Adjustable Range Settings:
Both the RPG-7 and the AT-4 have new adjustable 3D ironsights in this latest version of America's Army. These weapons both have the new functionality of 'adjustable range settings' based on the distance to target. The RPG/AT4 can be set to the following ranges: 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 meters.

New 'Tournament Mode':
This version of America's Army features new tournament mode features, which are accessible either via the command line or a GUI interface. These include an adjustable pre-match warm-up period with an in-game notification that the match is beginning. The time remaining until the
tournament start is also displayed on the score screen, as well as in-game reminders, and a final 10-second countdown.

New Tournament Squad Leader or Admin abilities:
-Restart the tournament when the tournament is over or during play
- Force the start of the tournament
- Force the start of the warm-up period
- Force the start of the tournament with a 10 second count down
- Mute a players on same team or whole team
- Place players on team
- Place players on specific fire teams in specific classes
- Set the Tournament start time

New Demo/Kiosk Mode:
New in this version of America's Army is a Demo/Kiosk mode. This 'Demo Mode' allows for the game to run demos either at the press of a button or after a customizable set time limit. This demo mode allows for the gameplay to be demonstrated without having internet connectivity. Player created demos can be used in this demo mode as
well.

Two New Maps:
- SF Arctic
- SF Village

Other Additions:
- Bullet/Explosion decals on terrain
- Display as OpFor option for Spinny Weapon Weapon Mod page
- Added locational damage for projectiles. Players no longer take global damage from getting hit with
projectiles. They now take damage based on the speed of the projectile and the area of the body hit. For instance a player hit in the head with an RPG round will now die, but a hit to the arm would not be fatal.
- Added delayed shell ejection. Weapons with delayed shell ejection (M203, M24, Mos, BS1 etc.) will now eject spent shells. Bolt action weapons now correctly eject shells when working the bolt.
- Added America's Army Europe (NATO) Server icon
- Server Browser Filters: PunkBuster, America's Army Europe (NATO)
- Controls Options Setting: "Auto Walk Zoom"
- Audio Setting: "Use Default Driver"
- Player Count is displayed next to each team (Assault and Defense)
- Smooth zoom transitions for 3D sights and 2D ironsights
- code-based Weapon Cyclic rate control for smoother weapon animations
- Added a folder for demos.
- Player Start: IF Advanced Marksman (VSS Vintorez Sniper)
- Server will now re-authenticate itself at the end of every match.
- New Arctic IF player textures.
- Added a dialog box that asks if you want to enable PB the first time you run the game
- Added turret death message
- SF Sandstorm: added new animated palm trees and louder ambient wind sounds
- IRC in-game chat enhanced with new text characters and colored text.
- Adjusted the Ak74 iron sight position to provide a better sight picture and reduce model "jitter"
-Binoculars no longer breathe cycle
-Improved team swapping. Will now fulfill players change team requests better"