My mythical Planetside Upgrade Project

[DviddLeff]

UPDATE: I have been hard at work making concepts for PS2, check them out here: https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/

Original 2009 Post:

Below you can see my basic ideas for a Planetside Upgrade Project, essentially forging the existing game into PS2. I wrote this over the Summer, when I had my holiday (teachings not too bad ;) and before PSNext was even rumoured. As I cancelled my subscription to PS about 3 years ago, and only played since for the recent reactivation some of my ideas may not be consistent with the current state of the game and I unfortunatly can not post this on the official forums. Anyway, enough babble and onto the good stuff.

Planetside Upgrade Project
The Planetside Upgrade Project (PUP) is an open development team, made up of fans of the game who are interested in improving the game to continue its lifespan. This requires support from the existing Planetside development personnel, particularly in accessing the required files for editing. Without this support and access PUP will never get off the ground.

This is entirely community run, we need volunteers who are willing to put time and effort in to improve the game for all, as well as input from players as to what aspects of PUP is worth pursuing.

The project is broken down into three phases which would ideally be completed in order, but do not have to be;

Phase 1 This is aimed at improving the existing graphics; upgrading textures and models to more detailed versions, and increasing the draw distance, especially on distant hills. This would be an optional download.
Details:

Terrain Textures
Building Textures
Infantry Armour Textures + Models
Weapon Textures + Models
Vehicle Textures + Models
Long distance terrain visible
Enhanced Water Effects (add meteors and earthquakes as weather types).
Enhanced Weather
HUD Upgrades (eg Better missile lock on cross hairs)


Phase 2 is about improving existing game systems; for example giving infantry a separate hit box for the head, allowing head shots to deal more damage. This would also carry across to vehicles, giving them weaker rear armour and buggy/ATV drivers being able to be killed within the vehicle as originally intended. Phase 2 would also include redesigning continents and the bases and towers on them, making each base unique is the ultimate goal. This would include upgrades to outfit systems; giving them more visibility, usefulness and their leaders more control over them. This would be a necessary download.
Details:

Real night and lighting systems (not included in Phase 1 as it requires the addition of lighting points on infantry, vehicles and buildings).
Infantry head hit box (200% damage).
Vehicle weak point hit boxes (eg rear armour takes 200% damage)
Open vehicle direct crew damage.
Facility Redesign (making them unique)
Tower Redesign
Core Combat Overhaul (see Planetside Idealab)
Outfit Improvements
Outfit owned bases (see Planetside Idealab).
ANT Bombs brought back.
Command Support Tree and command upgrades (see Planetside Idealab).
Terrain cover upgrades (denser trees, more small rocks and cover for infantry)
Reduce base hack timer to 10 minutes
After capturing continents lock for an hour against your enemies (is this already in game?).
Make MAX units take damage like infantry, adjust Decimator to kill all infantry including MAXs in 3 hits, empire specific AV stays the same kill rate on MAX units, and less time on infantry. This will need intensive balancing and play testing.
When killed the player retains a blurry first person view, and the enemy can “finish off” the player immediately sending them to a respawn screen so that player cannot be revived.
Vehicle driver and gunners must be in standard armour (except buggies and transports)
Agile armour has VS MAX style jump jets, 3x6 weapon holster instead of 3x9 (tied into adding empire specific SMGs and a light AV weapon).
Aircraft take 10% extra damage from all AI/AV weaponry.


Phase 3 would concern new additions to the game, giving players new equipment to use; both weaponry, vehicles and support equipment. This could also include my proposed Vehicle Hard Point System. This would be a necessary download.
Details:

Vehicle Hard Point System
BFR Overhaul (require 3 or 4 crew, increased armour, option for one of shield, flight pack, cloaking bubble or roof turret)
Lodestar Overhaul
Galaxy Overhaul
AMS Overhaul
Add ANT, Harasser, Skyguard, Raider and Prowler driver weapons.
Merge Light Vehicle Weapons into infantry weapon certifications:
Common Pool and Empire Specific Infantry Anti Aircraft Weapon (stripped down versions of the AA MAX weapons and the Common Pool Wasp AA Missile Pod).
Machine Gun Certification (3 points): Empire Specific (TR 15mm, VS Quasar, NC Scatter cannon) and common pool (12mm) machine guns (deployed to fire).
Add MAX and vehicle weapons to AV Certification.
Change MAX weaponry so that they can equip one Medium Hard Point Weapon, but TR MAXs would get to choose 2 light weapons; one for each arm. This makes MAXs into a hybrid of infantry and vehicles.
Empire Specific Aircraft Chassis
Small (1 pilot)
Medium (2-3 crew)
Large (4-5 crew) Require Dropship Centre vehicle terminal to acquire.
Empire Specific sub machine guns
Light (3x6) AV weapon added
Sanctuary Overhaul
Sanctuary Virtual Reality Squad Training
Sanctuary Strikes (once captured, the winning empire gets to use the conquered ones empire specific weapons for a week, while the loser loses access to all but one continent from their warpgates).
Outfit Barracks
Residential buildings (turn Sanctuaries into cities), possible player housing?
Emplacement System (see the Planetside Idealab).
Capturable villages and towns around the landscape, in some cases built around the facilities or inserted into the lattice elsewhere.
Additional Equipment (eg, binoculars, signal beacon, flash bangs, stamina booster and oxygen).
Addition Implants.
Additional Merits (for new equipment and others).
Long term empire goals


A variety of these changes are controversial and would have to be decided by the community whether the PUP should include them or not. However, these would not be votes on the forums, these would be votes in the game world.

All proposed changes would be discussed in detail before implementation, and could be tested for at least a week before the patch and could be rolled back if necessary.

[JackEarthrider]

Sounds great and all, but I'm worried that the server wouldn't be able to handle this much detail; or at the very least individual computers wouldn't be able to run without hardcore lag.

I'm not sure, but sometimes simple is best.

[DviddLeff]

Fair points; the players PCs not coping is taken into account by the optional graphics upgrade, which is Phase 1, which simply makes the game look better rather than actually changing the way game play works (bar the meteors and earthquakes as weather types, which are already in game).

Phase 2 is where we would see the game stretched seriously, with more hit boxes for players and vehicles which would add extra lode to the network. You would also see massive downloads as the continents are upgraded 1 by 1, but these days even a game demo weighs in at 1.5GB, so a large download for a brand new continent would be worth it, especially if it was only released every couple of weeks, and even then you could let people play the game but deny them access to a specific continent until they download it.

In my eyes this project would do for PS what CCP has done for EVE over the years (they both came out the same year) and revitalise the game and essentially upgrade it into PS2, which is what EVE has done year on year.

[JackEarthrider]

Thats a good point, EVE has done a good job chaning their game year by year to keep it up to par.

Its just too bad most MMO companies don't have that kind of commitment to their games. Here's to hoping!

[Kumoblade]

You have a lot of cool ideas, dude. Must have taken some time and dedication to get it all thought out. Kudos.

As for Systems/Servers not being able to handle it. Newer games have barely begun to put loads on network traffic. It may sound like a lot of information being passed to and forth, and it is, but its nowhere near what new servers can handle. On my standard PC with a FIOS 15meg/5meg Line, I could host a 150 client Radio broadcast with ease while enjoying an online game at the same time. (something I'm in the works on. maybe i'll make a planetside radio broadcast ;) )

With the Multi-threaded RISC Architecture that's out with dozens of CPUs and TBs of memory per server, handling several thousand people per game world isn't out of the ordinary, especially if its a cluster of servers.

If Sony is smart in managing whats client side and whats server side, We could have 300-400 member battles with the servers barely breaking a sweat.

Look at EVE online for example. The whole game is on 1 server (or server farm). While there may be a lot of dead space, its still space and the game has to keep track of your coordinates and where you are. Warping may teleport you, but if you wanted, you could literally fly from 1 point in the galaxy to the other and it'll take weeks. and theres the players, the bases, the planets, etc..

CCP did a great job in maximizing network efficiency.

[Kumoblade]

I just realized. it's sad to know that World War II Online has updated their game more than Planetside =(.

[DviddLeff]

Good info Kumo, I know very little about networks so its nice to know that it should be possible.

EVE and shortly WW20 are showing how MMOs should be supported, and how they can be revitalised if the company wishes to do so. Personally I dont think SOE will do that for PS; there track record shows their lack of support. All we can hope is that they do it right enough initially when/if PS2 is released so that it is intially successful and they then support it properly.

[DviddLeff]

http://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/home

Yeah, I spent a bit of time on it :p

Does someone mind dropping this link on the official forums? I would but I am not subscribed anymore....

[DviddLeff]

I have updated it with come pictures in a few sections and have added comments on pages with a to do list for myself.

Feel free to make comments on the pages as you see fit!

If someone could post the link on the official forums I would appreciate it, and post back the link to that post here so I can check out feedback.

Thanks very much.

[Furret]

for step 1 you could easily put in an option to run the game in high or low quality.

and the reason these MMO's are so popular is because they're fucking huge. PlanetSide had so many options, and that was the reason it was such an amazing game. If PlanetSide Next is going to have a downside, it had better be the fact that its a huge file. I have a good computer, so i'm on the side of make it as big and amazing as possible, although I know there would be tons of people who just couldn't play the game because it's too huge.

I'm also someone who knows nothing about networking and servers and everything, but what if you had every world on a different server. The people with slower computers would only connect to the server that they're currently on, and whenever they changed worlds, it might take longer because they have to switch servers, but their computers would have MUCH less strain. People with computers that could handle all of the packets, would connect to all of the servers while they play, the only gain being much less time switching from world to world.

Also, problems with inter-world communication would arise. One solution that i can think of off the top of my head would be, when someone types something in 'empire wide chat', their message goes to the world server, then to all of the servers, then is displayed as 'global' chat. Again, I have no clue if thats already how it works, but just stating a solution to working with slower computers, and the complications that would come with the solution.

People with networking/server stuff experience, would this work? I'm just wondering.

[DviddLeff]

Added a ton of stuff today; check out the front page for details (mainly pictures).

[DviddLeff]

Updated it since my last post, no idea why I keep thinking about PS when I haven't played in years...

[DviddLeff]

Added a forum.

[DviddLeff]

Updated the website today with a trio of images involving the Terrain Upgrade, showing a fortified ground tower, capital base wall and wall bunker.

The bunker also displays one way shields across the vision slits, which is an option for outfits when they claim a base as detailed in the Outfit Overhaul.

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/_/rsrc/1298199031497/home/Fortified%20Ground%20Tower.jpg?height=268&width=400

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/_/rsrc/1298203554270/home/Capital%20Base%20Wall.jpg?height=317&width=400

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/_/rsrc/1298200933824/home/Bunker.jpg?height=281&width=400

[Hamma]

That is really cool! Would be fun to fight over something like that.

[Krushiev]

I hope SOE is looking at this...

I'd freak out and quit all other games for PSN if they aded stuff like this.

[I SandRock]

VS: Versatile weaponry with AI/AV abilities. Cant shoot through water.

This is so bs. Get rid of the AP function on VS. It's next to useless really and it means we get our guns deal less damage because "were versatile". No, shit damage against vehicles or maxes just amount to a little less than shit but still pretty shit damage to vehicles and maxes >__<

Do TR/NC actually carry any of the AP bullets with them? I think the only time it actually has some use is against spitfire turrets and other CE...

[Bags]

This is so bs. Get rid of the AP function on VS. It's next to useless really and it means we get our guns deal less damage because "were versatile". No, shit damage against vehicles or maxes just amount to a little less than shit but still pretty shit damage to vehicles and maxes >__<

Do TR/NC actually carry any of the AP bullets with them? I think the only time it actually has some use is against spitfire turrets and other CE...

My friend used to do MCG / AP MCG back at 25 when everyone didn't have infinite certs so he didn't have to have AV certed. Against really bad maxes AP HA does pretty damn good.

@ OP, digging the mini-tower base.

[CutterJohn]

I like that base wall design. Infantry can reliably use it to fend off vehicles, but once vehicles push into the cy, the splash from the ceiling will clear it in short order. Makes them more effective vs defense when the enemy is outside of the walls, but once inside they become a liability.

The bunkers need a drawback though, or a way to be destroyed. Or would the access just be from inside the cy instead of inside the base?

[DviddLeff]

The bunkers have an access door on the inside of the wall, so once the enemy gets into the CY you are trapped!

The shields on the bunker would also only take a certain amount of damage before they fail; you wouldn't be totally safe in there... ooo better idea, Ill put a shield generator on the back of the bunker that can be destroyed to drop the defensive shields.

Regarding VS AV mode, its ok, but yeah, not the most useful when everyone has AV.

Yesterday I ran into a TR MCG user with AP rounds; he chewed through a third of my mags health in about 10 seconds before we got far enough away from him and then took another 5 seconds killing him with our main gun, by which time half of the armour had been stripped off the tank!

[CutterJohn]

I'm pretty sure that we could safely just rid ourselves of gold ammo/AP modes. I don't think that mechanic was ever all that beneficial to gameplay. It mostly just reinforced the weakness of infantry against vehicles and MAXs by making them totally screwed if caught unprepared, and almost but not quite totally screwed if they brought gold ammo. Exceptions to this applied, ofc, but all in all I think the concept was not well planned.

[Canaris]

I used to see TR infantry running around all the time with twin MCGs one would have the regular AI ammo and the other the AP, worked well.
Oh and Dvid those are some great concept pic's of the tower and base wall. The bunker looks more like an observation room, not to keen on it I'd prefer if they were detached from the base with a series of surface trench systems linking them surrounding parts of the base. They'd need to be positioned to give proper fields of fire.

[DviddLeff]

Reviewed and tweaked the Certification Overhaul (https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/phase-3/certification-overhaul), removing a lot of repeated information from the various related overhauls and changing some of the values of the different certifications.

Made a checkpoint for the Terrain Overhaul (https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/phase-2/terrain-overhaul). These would be situated on roads as they pass through choke points, such as between valleys or at the end of bridges.

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/_/rsrc/1298480931525/home/Checkpoint.jpg?height=279&width=400

[brinkdadrink]

I was reading through your site and i really like it.
Had a thought.

Your armor overhaul
http://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/phase-2/infantry-armour-overhaul

Should guns be able to be carried in backpacks. I thought it should be no but then i thought about exchanging the glue gun with standard gun in the driver suit. So i thought a good addition would be you can carry a specific amount of weapons per armor. This im sure would be debated. So an example, rexo has 2 slots so it can carry two weapons and doesn't matter if they are both in the backpack or not.

The other thought was not allow weapons in the backpack but change the amour's to have a support slot that is 3x9 which would be slot number 6 and can only use support items. Such things as glue gun or the large ace for TRAPs (blanking on name)
Just throwing out a thought.

[brinkdadrink]

Just wanted to add the NTU system i like

changes i see
Base silo - 1000 - because if 100 people then 10 deaths each which is much smaller as they grab vehicles
light base - 200 - no vehicles so 200 deaths till empty
Tower - 50

The rest of the NTU system seems like it would be a great addiction and add a new way to capture bases.

[DviddLeff]

Cheers for the feedback; I will more than double what I have for the NTU limits for the base, light base and tower; I think 10 deaths for 100 people is way too many for a base fight; that means that people are throwing their lives away or getting as good as spawn camped.

If a base fight lasts more than 15 minutes the defenders should be worrying about refilling the base.

[brinkdadrink]

But if a quarter of those 100 people so 25 pull a heavy vehicle which is 4 pts in your system then that another 100 points. If half pull a light vehicle then thats another 100 points. Not sure exactly what each vehicle is but lets say a mos is 2 pts and you got 15 doing that then after everyone in this senario dies twice you already are at 200 (respawn) + 200 (heavy vehicle) + 200 (light vehicle) + 60 (Mos also light vehicle) = 660. you are more than 2/3 down after eveyone dies twice. one more deaths if they all pull the same things and the base is spent.

I made the towers low which could actually be half of what i said because there are no vehicles.

Another thing is if people are spawning faster than 1 per 20 sec then the base will be depleting slowly even if it has the connection and then again on top of that once the enemy breaches the courtyard they can just take all the NTU out of the silo which would insta kill the base which is why i was making it so high.

I do really like the idea you have with NTU making the fuel source much more valuable and part of the game. I am glad you didnt add it to vehicles to as a driving fuel but only spawning vehicles.

[Traak]

Jeez, dude, why aren't you working for Sony.

[lostabyss]

If a base fight lasts more than 15 minutes the defenders should be worrying about refilling the base.

since cutting off supplies would be a new strategy for base caps, i think a refill roughly every half hour would be better. a refill every 15 minutes in some cases would potentially mean someone is constantly going back and forth. this also gives a lot of chances to cut off the convoy and either stall them or decimate them for the victory.(since it's such a precious resource i'm sure a convoy would be common for refills) that is, if the base actually gets to those low levels.

in order to really calibrate it, we would need data. average lifespan of ANT's and their convoys when the path is pretty much blockaded for example. it can take a little while to organize sometimes, and then it depends on average distance of set up roadblocks/ambushes, or patrols.

this would definitely add another great aspect of play and role to the game, the average time for a base under seige to deplete (with 60-90 people using the base?) would have to be enough to give the ant's several tries, but not be a ridiculous wait for the enemy.

[brinkdadrink]

To make it so low a way i thought about doing it would be to have 2 lines from the warpgate. So in your picture you have a line go to the south tower from the top warpgate and stop. What if you continued it to the base so if one line is taken the other is still fueling. you can make it so the fuel lines are slower so with both you are steady at a medium fight but if one is taken it will be depleted slowly and if they are both gone then you got like 10 min before you lose the base. It gives kind of like a warning to get someone to those towers. I say this because if the fight is in the middle of the battle field you could just take the tower by the warpgate and cut off all the bases.

EDIT: Realized thats not right you would have to take one at each warpgate unless you near the end so disregard that.

[Grimster]

Reviewed and tweaked the Certification Overhaul (https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/phase-3/certification-overhaul), removing a lot of repeated information from the various related overhauls and changing some of the values of the different certifications.

Made a checkpoint for the Terrain Overhaul (https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/phase-2/terrain-overhaul). These would be situated on roads as they pass through choke points, such as between valleys or at the end of bridges.

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/_/rsrc/1298480931525/home/Checkpoint.jpg?height=279&width=400

I must say man that I really like your ideas for the Terrain Overhaul. There is a lot of your other stuff that I don't agree with(but hey can't agree on everything right? :) ). But your ideas for towers and bases are simply awesome. I really hope they take a look at your ideas for towers, checkpoints and the different bases with improved walls and bunkers.

[Traak]

I'ts "MYTHIC" not "mythical" by the way. Mythic means, in the sense you wanted to express it, "having qualities suitable to myths". "Mythical" mainly means "fictitious"

These fortifications would function well with one of my favorite PS:N things to change. NO cOwardly Strikes.

[DviddLeff]

The upgrade project is fictitious as its not going to even happen :p

Lost, good points about giving defenders the time needed to get ANTs sorted out.

[Traak]

Well, shoot, why not make ANT's gigantic multi-gunner tanks? Then see if we ever lack NTU's. Making the ANT the bleating sheep of the wolf-filled world of Planetside really discouraged their usage.

[DviddLeff]

Well what the hell do I do with this outdated monstrosity now? :p

[basti]

Prepare it for Planetside 2? ;)

[Hamma]

:lol:

Indeed! Update it for PS2 for sure.

[krnasaur]

I appreciate all the work you put into the upgrade project, it was a very nice read, im glad they took some of your ideas it seems, jumppacks and the new smaller weapon class

[CutterJohn]

Well what the hell do I do with this outdated monstrosity now? :p

Check to see how much they copied, then send them a bill for consulting work.

I did that once.. Had a threadnaught of a post on the EVE forums with a ton of ideas. Checked it a couple years later when I was getting back into the game, and turns out I hit dead on with 80% of them. I appealed to the CSRs for a free month of play for giving them all the ideas they used. Sadly, they never got back to me.

[DviddLeff]

Lol, Planetside 2 Upgrade Project... going to have to get a better idea of what the game is like first :p

Although they have mentioned that the sandbox element is unlikely to be in at launch in a major way, and by that I imaging constructing or calling in fortifications out in the world...

[DviddLeff]

Any chance this could be moved over to the advertisement section?

[DviddLeff]

Well, well, well, thought I already had a thread on this.

I have been busy:

https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/

[Hamma]

Nice! :D

[Taramafor]

which would add extra lode to the network

I'm worried about the amount of internet usage this might take up. 100-150 is the norm it seems (in an hour), which means up to 900 megabytes in 6 hours (depends on the amount of action it seems. Consent zergers might even go higher) I got roughly 1.4 a day and can easily game for longer then that. And of course, I only get 40 gig a month and have other net stuff to do.

And of course, there's the amount of usage the patches themselves will use up being added to the comp. But the main concern is the constant internet usage after they're applied.

And I once heard of someone that used 1.4 gig in 4 hours because of something about the data going back and forth (sounds like a networky thing).

You figure out the rest. :doh:

All I'll say is lots of good idea, but just make sure the game doesn't end up eating more then a gig in 6 hours. 'Cus that's my standed play time and if too much is being eaten up, I'll be too scared to play (which would be a shame as I really like this game).

As for making graphics better... ARE YOU CRAZY!? Most people already struggle and have low framerate. Sure, it's an optional download, but sheesh! Most people comps aren't going to be THAT good for at least a few years. So something to plan eventually but it would be far better to focus on the gameplay first and then focus on making the game look better after all's said and done. I'd rather have better gameplay then better graphics being worked on and I think most would agree (Not that the gameplay is bad in way of course. Just needs a bit of polish. Like incentive to strike behind enemy lines without being overpowered doing it. coughghostcappingcough).

[DviddLeff]

Lol, check the date of the post you are reading - That part was for the original game!

[Taramafor]

Lol, check the date of the post you are reading - That part was for the original game!

Yea, kinda missed the date.

In that case, I recommend more incentive to strike behind enemy lines without being cheap. ONWARDS!