Total Battlefield

We've been sent some news today from the Battlefield Pirates 2 team about a game manual being released for their mod. Here's what they had to say:

This 30 page manual provides extensive info on all of the classes, weapons, vehicles, maps, and game modes available in the recently released R2. Manual developed by Anonymousity.

And if ye scallywags haven't voted for BF Pirates 2 in the Mod DB top 100, please do so here- we appreciate your support!

To learn more about the BFP2 mod, and to download the latest release, visit here.

A new update has been posted over on the Forgotten Hope 2 mod website to bring in the new year. Check it out below:

Hello and welcome back to the first Forgotten Hope update of the year 2009. Before we continue with the regular update we would like to wish everyone a very...Happy New Year!

As every year, the Mod Database is hosting their Mod of the Year Awards again. We encourage everyone to go over to their site and vote for your favorite mods, which hopefully includes Forgotten Hope 2. Be sure to sign up as a member, because votes from members count heavier than votes from unregistered users. Click here to visit Forgotten Hope 2's ModDB page.

On then to the actual news. Today we have renders of 3 more German vehicles for our Normandy Theater of War. The first of these is the Opel Blitz. This vehicle model is only slightly different from the Africa version, but it's got a brand new skin. The Opel Blitz was made by Mange, Jimbob and Toddel.

For more screens from this latest update be sure to head over to their website.

The BattleGroup42 team has posted up a new preview today for v1.6 of their mod. Here's what they had to say:

Albeit everyone´s talking about crisis - the Battlegroup42 team is beginning the new year with good news. In the short time which has passed since the release of 1.5 and 1.51 we've already amassed so much new material that it can´t be packed into a patch. So look forward to a new full release which is planned to be released somewhere in springtime.

Many new models for version 1.6 originate in Battlegroup:Frontlines. After the unfortunate end of our sister mod we were able to rescue quite a big amount of material and convert it for BG42. That way we have the possibility to replace some of our older models and some DICE models with new, superbly modelled vehicles. One of them is the Tiger E from Koricus, which was converted and coded for BG42 by Sarge31FR. Additional skins for different theatres were done by Sarge Surfat. As of now, BG42 is the only BF42 mod featuring a completely new Tiger model, and we´re somewhat proud about that.

To read the rest of this new mod preview be sure to visit here.

It's the beginning of a new year, and once again ModDB has kicked off their annual Mod of the Year Awards. Our favorite Battlefield 2 mods were strong contenders last year, with Forgotten Hope 2 taking 4th place and Project Reality taking 2nd in the Player's Choice awards for released mods.

Every year on ModDB, hobbyist, amateur and professional game artists and developers work together to produce some amazing content. While our community grows ever larger, the amount of outstanding indie games and mods also increases—many pushing the bar for quality higher and even introducing a few new ideas along the way. With 2008 in the bag, it's time to look back and choose your favorite mods and indie games that are part of the ModDB community. Welcome to the 7th Annual Mod of the Year Awards.

This year, in addition to grabbing a spot in ModDB's hall of fame, mods and indie games will be competing for over $8000 in prizes. We've teamed up with a whole lineup of sponsors providing tools and services that will help game artists and developers rise to new heights. Picking a winner from over 5000 possible candidates for best released mod, upcoming mod and indie game is not an easy feat. Every vote counts—indie game and mod teams can help their own cause by using the promotional tools provided and reminding all of their fans to vote for their creations.

Whether you're new to the community or a long time member, voting for your top choices of the year is easy. Both members and non-members of ModDB can vote by navigating to a mod or indie game's profile and clicking the vote button located just underneath the summary section (see below). Member votes are more valued so be sure to register if you want your voice to be heard! While your at it, have a look at some of the other mods on the site, there's an endless amount of free entertainment to be had on a variety of game engines, platforms and genres.

So head on over to ModDB, make sure you have an account, find your favorite mods, and submit your nominations! Let's hope we see lots of Battlefield mods in the Top 100 again when it's announced on January 17th.

21CW is hosting a 21CW vs. all battle on New Year's Day -- Check it out:

Think you are one of the best in Battlefield 2? Do you think you can compete with some of the top organized BF2 players around? Come and prove it on January 1st, 2009. Even if you aren't the best come and see how organized play really shapes the game; its not all about skill, it's about having fun and 21CW will be opening it's doors and it's battle server to players from around the world to come in and test their skills. This won't be your little brothers pub play either. There will be intense battles of organized skill, working as a team not individuals. No more need to run rambo, join a squad and participate in tactical attacks and structured defense on different flags. No need to stress out over unorganized players ruining your game, come join us for a day of organized fun. Focus on your skills helping the team, no need to do it alone, you have a squad to back you up. Tired of Squad Leader's that just run around, here they are part of a tactical unit, helping to get you spawned in to the fight. Here at 21CW, it isn't about how you play, but about how you act with your team, and how you help your squad to complete its goal!

Join us Jan 1st @ 12 noon Eastern!

21CW Ranked Public Server
69.12.98.91 port:16567
21CW Teamspeak Server
72.232.167.123:2042

The team behind the highly anticipated Sands of Fire movie has released a brand new trailer today. This new trailer shows off more of the great action the full length video will feature. Here's what the guys had to say:

Around Christmas time, as the tradition goes, the DW crew prepares for something special. And this year is no exception. Exactly 3 years after the first teaser and 2 years after the Christmas special (Preview), we are very pleased to announce the last and official SoF Trailer.

The previous presentations were both action packed and visually enhanced to portray the best visual style of this movie but this time however, we have focussed on the story. It's no secret that SoF is inspired by true events from current and passed military operations in Iraq and with this trailer we are trying to give more details of what this movie is all about.

The trailer will hopefully convince the disbelievers and people who were going to give up on us. And for the fans that sticked with us, we hope this trailer will show that the waiting hasn't been for nothing. Remember, it's only a small presentation of what to expect in the final movie.

Some of the shots used in this trailer will look familiar. And yes, some of these shots were released in previous trailers or during the post-production of the movie but not in it's final shape. This trailer does show the final composit of these shots as they were edited for the best viewing experience.

To watch the trailer in full HD be sure to visit here. If you wish to read more of this update, or download some wallpapers from the trailer, visit the website.

The First Strike mod team has posted up a reminder today to let everyone know about the community matches they are holding. Take a look:

Greetings troopers! Today we would like to remind everyone about the regular Saturday night Community Games, the next of which is tomorrow at 21:00 GMT (4:00 PM EST). Along with this reminder we bring you a video from one of our testers, Benu Kenobi. See you on the battlefield!

Launcher Information
We would also like to reiterate that from now on you have to use the First Strike Launcher to start the game. You can no longer use a regular shortcut like in previous releases. Also, you can not manually update First Strike by simply extracting the patch files in the correct places. If you do this you will get a Modified Content error when trying to join a server. You have to let the Launcher update your game.

For more info on the FS mod, including the release of their newest version, visit here.

The Operation Peacekeeper team has posted up some news on a hotfix today as well as the future of their mod. Take a look:

We did small, nice steps and due to that haven't come forward as much as we wanted to.The last releases till 0.26 brought new maps, new weapons and new vehicles. The feedback was completely positive except for some little negative critics. We are working to terminate these negative points such as the cockpits.The main problem concerning cockpits is, that they are taking much resources from our team and we need these for different things. As you can see, the Fennek already got its cockpit: It's going forward! The 0.27 is a hotfix to take out some little but ugly bugs that managed to sneak into release 0.26.

2008 was also the year of change in the team. Some members worked on new projects for example for Crysis. Even if the technical possibilities are much better than on BF2 this game will not be an alternative platform for OPK!

We had a look at BF Heroes, what is not an alternative either. So we stand by and wait for BF3 asking what there will be in future.

OPK O.27: Download & Changelog:

Maps:
-Ambush: Changed the numbers of Helicopter and Jets. Both Teams now have two Helis and one Jet
-Harbour Sabotage: Fixed a Problem in the Spawnmenu caused by the BF2 Editor, wich made it verry difficult to select a spawnpoint
-Monastari Zogosiji: Changed the position of Landing Zone Alpha and some of it's spawnpoints for gameplay reasons
-Bordercontrol: Fixed a wrong entry in the Ini, wich caused invisble weapons and missing sounds io the upgrade kits.
-Airfield Assault: Fixed a localisation mistake. There is only one Radartower left now.

Python:
-You don't need 2 People in a squad anymore to upgrade your kit, if there are less than 2 players in your team

To read all of the information released in this new update, head on over to their website.

The Desert Conflict Xtended team has released the latest version of their mod today, bringing it to v0.22b. Here are a few of the changes in this release:

Whats New:
• El Alamein Dusk with Headlights on Vehicles CQ and CTF
• Omaha Beach CQ and CTF
• No Fly Zone Beta CQ and CTF
• Arabian Gulf with enterable Carriers
• Songhua Stalemate CQ and CTF
• Daqing Oilfields CQ and CTF
• FuShe Pass CQ and CTF
• Operation Clean Sweep CQ and CTF

Fixes:
• Ticket Bleed on the following maps is fixed:
-Bridge
-Tikrit Insurgency
-Baghdad Square

To learn more about the DCon mod be sure to visit their website.

After releasing v1.4 of their mod, the First Strike team has posted up some news clarifying the autoupdater and correcting the server files. Take a look:

First off, apologies, there was an error in the linux server updater that effectively rendered it impossible for your servers to start up. At the end of this post, you will find a new version that you can utilize on your server, just reinstall the 1.3 server files and boot it up and you should be good to go.

Now, there seems to have been some unclear information floating around regarding servers and the new autoupdater. This program is a fully automated updater that will run on the server without any interaction from the user. It does not require remote access to the box, only at minimum RCON access to the 2142 server, though for windows it is fully compatable with 2142CC as well (we are working on Linux compatability with 2142cc). Any box that can run a 2142 server should be fully capable of utilizing this updater.

As we will regularly be releasing small updates and fixes to our clients, it is important that our servers can also receive these updates and stay up to date in a timely fashion. So, this program is not optional for server admins. If you wish to host a First Strike server, it must be installed on your server. We're sorry if this creates any inconvenience, but in order to provide the best and most up to date First Strike experience to you we believe this is in your best interest. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in our Server Support forum.

Linux Server Updater:
Woodat.com

Windows Server Updater:
Woodat.com

To download the client files and to see the change log for this newest version, head on over to the release thread.