Community Map Releases

The FAS Community all ready has two new community made maps for FAS. Be sure to check out future releases, or discuss current releases in FAS's Released Maps Forum.

PS_Desesrtcrisis by Hitman

A classic FA staple remade for FAS, with new routes to the middle capture point.

Download



TC_University by Ecktic

A fast and frantic TC map that has an old school charm.

Download


Download TC_University

FA RC 1.0 Maps

These are the original 12 maps released with Firearms 1.0. FAS includes remakes of ps_sand and tp_mine (remade to sd_mine).

By Beserker

cti_artic
cti_rama
tp_zerk
ps_check

By LooseCannon

tp_boat

By David "Hitman" Reeves

tp_soviet

By CrowbarSniper

cti_mideast
ps_waterfall
tp_dish

By Tylak

ps_sand
tp_mine
tp_ware

Watch Out!

In a short developer's journal post, Hitman stated that you'll see more of what he has been working on, now that FAS is at a level of completeness.

I Hate Bob!

If you thought the weapon and movement bob in the recent FAS videos was to much, Hitman has some good news for you. "I believe there's a client-side cvar that can turn it off, or at least reduce it to whatever level you want," Hitman said on ModDB. FAS also has movement bob, but like weapon bob, it can be adjusted to a level you like, or turned off completely.

To The Limit!

When asked about the possibility of other bolt action sniper rifles in FAS, such as the SSG3000, Hitman said: Just because there's an M24 doesn't mean there can't or won't be any other bolt-actions. We're not limited to 32 weapons, and you shouldn't expect us to just stop at that point.

Hitman also stated that taking Firearms to the next level would mean a lot of guns.

Video Junky

Hitman has stated that the videos from last Sunday's testing session may not be the only ones. "I'll be getting some more videos tomorrow," Hitman said.

These new videos will have better sound as well be in YouTube HD.

However, their may not be new videos at all: it's the FAS Team's decision if Hitman publish them and if Hitman is able to get enough good footage from the next testing session.

FAS NEWS (26 SEPT 2009)

The FAS team has released two videos of FAS with the arrival of the new batch of beta testers last Sunday. The new players are there to help test server stability, overall weapon balance and help find bugs before FAS's first release candidate. Since most of the work on FAS has most been bug fixing in the code and maps, instead of showing new renders and screen shots, the FAS team had recorded last Sunday's testing session and made some quick and dirty video clips of FAS as it stands now.



The first video is two minutes of Hitman with the MP5 and heavy armor in the tunnels and on the flag on tc_iwojima. Here you can see some of changes DysPatch has made to the tunnels of tc_iwojima to make it flow better, as well as the MP5 aim-point in action, the medic skill with its tool tip indicator showing who is bleeding and their health, and how the game plays in general.



The second video is a shot clip of tc_rubble showing off a brief clip of the M4 and M79 in action.

Bounding Boxes and Prone

The original Firearms had a unique prone system: going prone was slow, but with the skill Battle Field Agility, it was faster. Later versions changed this up some, making the standard prone faster and BFA only slightly more so. Another problem with prone in older versions is that the bounding boxes - the boxes that dictate where your character "collides" with the world - were very inaccurate. Players who were prone could not enter crawl spaces that they could while crouched, nor pass though narrow passages that they could while crouched or standing.

While FAS is going back to the older version of Firearms in terms of game play and "feel", the prone system is vastly updated, according to Hitman. The speed of going prone is fast to reflect the game play. It makes little sense for people to be sprinting around, jumping over sandbags and hurling grenades to be unable to quickly go prone. Additionally, the bounding boxes of prone are more accurate, reflecting character's real height: while prone, you are able to go under objects that you couldn't go under while crouched (but this still needs some more testing before release).

The fate of BFA is somewhat in question with the quick prone and lack of stamina drain while moving which were the two of the three main reasons for BFA in previous RCs; the last being able to fall at great distances without breaking your leg. As FAS does not have broken legs implemented yet, BFA as a unique skill seems unlikely.

Running out of Charlemagne References

Hitman has updated his developer's journal with a daily log of FAS updates. Today's project was flash bang code; no longer can you cheese the system and stand over flash bangs and become immune to the blinding effect.

Additionally, FAS has a unique flash bang variable for friendly fire. By default, flash bangs will not blind team mates with friendly fire off; even when on, team mates are immune to the flash bang effect (of course the thrower is effected as well for both settings). However, for those wishing for a more realistic setting, server admins can change it so flash bangs effect both enemies and team mates alike. The reason for these settings is to prevent griefing, stopping jerks from blinding their own team.

The Best For Last

The Sako, M60 and M82, some of the last weapons to be featured in a FAS update may be featured in the next two weeks or so, according to Inveramsay. Animations and skinning are at various stages on each models Hitman said. Naota confirms that the reason for the delays - at least for the Sako - is that it has very dull textures that are hard to make remarkable.

Hit F10 for Parachutes

Parachutes, a staple of Firearms, will not be in the initial release of FAS, but later releases?

"It's gotten enough talk among the developers that I think it's pretty much a given. Nobody has shot it down and all the devs want to see chutes someday," Hitman said. With player models done and people to do animations, the inclusion of parachutes at some point is all but confirmed.

WYSIWYG

When asked about the list of maps on the FAS homepage, Hitman confirmed that the list present is indeed accurate (to the best of his knowledge). Hitman is unsure on the status of sd_durandal as he is reworking the map so that the "entire map...looks more realistic and uses far less CSS content."

Content that he showed the team has been met with acclaim, but don't expect for you to see it soon as most of Hitman's contribution to the mod is with code at the moment.

However, Shinobi decides what maps will make it in for the release, not Hitman and as it stands now, sd_durandal is in.

It is also important to note that DysPatch is currently the only dedicated mapper on FAS now that AirWolf is gone, undertone is inactive, Shinobi is focusing on artwork and team leadership and Hitman coding. So if you like any FAS map at release, be sure to thank the one man mapper, DysPatch.

Would You Like To Know More?

Want more information about FAS? Just ask!

"If you go to our moddb page, you'll see team members answering questions when one comes up...A lot of our development work happens at a rapid pace and so constantly keeping the community up-to-date is difficult," Hitman said.

He continues with saying that the FAS team likes to answer questions because it is enjoyable when people take interest in what they are doing.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

The red player models are great, but are the blue player models carbon copies with a new skin? Not according to Hitman. "Brand new model. They will look similar, but the shapes are actually a good bit different," Hitman said. Besides some differences in the chest rig and a few other details, the most important change is the different shape of the helmet. The change between the two team's helmets is important because it allows players to recognize what team a player is from a difference. As Hitman said, "nobody looks at chest or knees in combat" but at the head and at a distance.

FAS News (6 MAY 2009)

FAS's twice monthly update shows more in game screen shots, talks about game balance and directs players to the FAS Team's developers journals.


Alpha Testing has been progressing with bug squishing and game balancing. Shinobi, realistic about the first release for FAS, acknowledges there may be bugs, but the game will be stable so everyone can play. Much of the recent balancing has been with the machine guns, making sure that their high rate of fire and large belt sizes are appropriate for their cost. With FAS's credit system, balancing can easily be done by adjusting the credits for the weapon instead of actually chaining the weapon itself.


As shown earlier, DysPatch and Hitman have both updated their developers journals. DysPatch with new areas in ps_snowblast and Hitman with some beautiful cut maps.

Hitman Takes Out Maps

Hitman has updated his developer's journal with information and pictures about cut FAS maps that won't be included with FAS in it's initial release. The maps include sd_durandal, ps_juarez, basic_training, tc_siege, cti_novospassky and tc_asylum.

The most shocking name on the list is sd_durandal, the de_dust/dust2 of Firearms. However, Hitman's description is vague as he starts with "The original Durandal was removed." In addition the map is still listed on the FAS maps page.

Also expect basic_training to be included at some point in FAS life as the only reason it will not be included initially is because some gameplay features are not yet complete yet.

Lastly, Hitman said "indicated to the team that these levels aren't to be included in the map packs." Hitman may rework these maps and release them as third party maps, but expects he won't need to due to third party mappers releasing their own maps.

Together Again

Hitman has updated his developer journal, stating his and Christan's work on new code and animations for the belt fed weapons, allowing the linked ammo chain to show it's depletion. In addition to the belt fed weapons, Christian has been working on the nomenclature reload animations which look "just plain kick ass."

Hitman has also worked on new grenade code which is in testing and initial feedback is positive and there are no major bugs in the current release.

Kill Speed

In response to a question on ModDB regarding how difficult it would be to kill someone, Hitman explains that the "amount of firepower it takes to kill someone depends on a number of factors." Such factors include the ammo of the weapon you are using, where you hit the person - be it a limb, chest or head shot - and what armor they have.

Also, the distance you are from the enemy is a factor. FAS incorporates damage drop off, "so pistol-caliber weapons lose a lot of power over short distances, versus assault rifles, which do not."

As there are so many factors determining how many hits a player can take, it is impossible to give a solid number. However, head shots seem to be the most constant as they are "instant-death, unless the target is wearing a helmet." If the player is wearing a helmet, then it would be two shots; three if the weapon is low caliber and there is an extreme distance between both players. Of course, even with a helmet, the M24 and M82 will still kill in one head shot.

Custom Cvars Clans Can Control

Hitman has updated his developer journal, asking for those who participate in clan gaming what specialized server side cvars would be useful in facilitating clan play. If you have any ideas or suggestions, Hitman ask for you to post your thoughts!

In addition, Hitman has announced a new FAS build, 141, which includes new features.

Not That Crazy

In Hitman's developers journal, he reveals why tc_asylum - a often talked about map - will not be included in the first RC of FAS. Hitman states "I enjoyed Asylum, but I think with a mostly-indoors, mostly-CQB map like that, you're going to find newcomers wandering around wondering where to go." He continues, stating that the upstairs of the hospital area was not well done and possibly could lead to balance issues (though in test, none came up).

Hitman thought about removing one of the three tc_points but came to the realization that it would make tc_asylum to much like tc_iwojima and tc_rubble; Hitman believed the small tc_map lineup was full enough.

Finally, the map didn't really have war theme.

Hitman plans to release the map with FAS though as a third party map and convert it to a Firearms themed L4D level when the L4D SDK is released.