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Version History
Track changes made to Americas Army since its original version.

Version 2.8.5
Wed May 06, 2009 4:52 am by hivltg

America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) v2.8.5

We are proud to present another America's Army release. This release includes ES2 updates to three classic maps, SF Courtyard, SF Hospital, and Urban Assault. The maps have been updated with additional ES2 objects to discover and report. ES2 Bridge is an updated version of the popular Bridge Crossing map with new gameplay elements added such as ES2 objects with new types of intelligence functionality. The new functionality includes unlocking access to a new path under the bridge, and supplying intelligence on enemy positions. We've also added improvements to the civilian AI within ES2 Border to have the AI react in a more realistic manner. Lock and load, it's time to go to work!

Updated Missions

Urban Assault

A coalition convoy was raided and the cargo was stolen. It has been confirmed that the insurgents and the cargo are based in a residential area of the city. Due to the dense urban nature of the area it will be necessary to do a house by house assault on foot. Observe and report any suspicious objects or activities using ES2 training. Use appropriate force against positively identified enemy combatants only. Minimize damage to local infrastructure.


Hospital Rescue

Following an ambush by enemy forces, a wounded Resistance leader escaped to a neutral hospital for treatment of his wounds. The leader is a critical member of the Resistance government within Unconventional Warfare Area of operations (UWAO) JAZZ. Observe and report any suspicious objects or activities using ES2 training. Be advised civilian hospital employees may be present in contested area. Use appropriate force against positively identified enemy combatants only. Minimize damage to local infrastructure.


Courtyard

Intelligence reports that an illegal arms dealer is planning to transfer stolen top secret material to an agent of a known terrorist organization. Location of sensitive material is only known to be located in vicinity C94M98A04. Reports confirm that there are willing informants who know the exact whereabouts of the sensitive material. Observe and report any suspicious objects or activities using ES2 training. Use appropriate force against positively identified enemy combatants only. Minimize damage to local infrastructure.


Bridge Crossing

Enemy forces masquerading as refugees have ambushed the US forces defending abridge at grid WS663429. Your force returning from patrol is now on the hostile side of the bridge, and must link up with your company headquarters to pass along time-sensitive information. Observe and report any suspicious objects or activities using ES2 training. Use any intelligence found to help achieve success of the mission and minimize casualties. Use appropriate force against positively identified enemy combatants only. Minimize damage to local infrastructure.


UPDATES

AI Improvements

Improvements have been made to the civilian AI with regard to use of cover, running from grenade, gunfire. etc.

Bug Fixes

NOTE: This list only includes bugs present in v2.8.3.1 that have been fixed.
Bugs fixed related to new v2.8.4 features and certain security/exploit fixes have been removed from this list.

Map Specific:

- ES2Border: Rebuilt map to re-add lighting to interiors.
- ES2Border: Adjusted Civilian AI logic to reduce the chances of civialians running into the line of fire
- ES2Border: ES2 Points are now more evenly awarded to the reporting player as well as live team members
- ES2Border: Scoring for ES2 objects has been re-evaluated and is now the same for all maps. Points are now reflected by the value of the reported object
- ES2Border: Fixed terrain and player sticking issues
- ES2Border: Fixed various building anomolies
- ES2Border: Changed all Triggers and Objectives to be hidden while viewing in single player.
- ES2Border: Fixed issue with IED exploding even when not visible
- ES2Border: Fixed ES2 objects that did not spawn flags when reported
- ES2McKenna: Fixed AAR Instructor's face and hands

Miscellaneous

- Fixed issues with Friendlies showing up as Op-For when spectating in a co-op mission.
- Fixed a problem with ES2 objects not showing up after the game round is restarted.
- Fixed issue with the camera sinking through the ground while ragdolling in first-person. It was caused by a counter not being incremented unless the ragdoll was being rendered. Bumped the eye position up a few units when the player is dead just to ensure the camera doesn't even partially look through the ground.
- ES2: Added capability to damage ES2 objects. Added several damageable ES2 objects to the ES2 maps.
- ES2: Added objectives to the list of grenade damagable objects
- ES2: Tweaked spawning probabilities of certain ES2 objects

Improvements

- AI: ES2Border civilians should now take appropriate cover when approached by US Forces or fired upon. Civilian will be capable of wandering, hiding/running from grenades, bullets and players.

---

Version 2.8.4
Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:45 pm by hivltg

America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch)
Release Notes (Version 2.8.4)

=======================================================
What's new
=======================================================

New ES2 Training & Co-op missions
-----------------------------

ES2 MOUT McKenna (Training)


“Every Soldier a Sensor (ES2) is a potential information collector and an essential component to help reach situational
understanding. Every Soldier develops a special level of situational awareness simply due to exposure to events occurring
in their Area of Operations (AO) and has the opportunity to collect information by observation and interaction with the
environment and the population. The increased situational awareness that soldiers develop through personal contact and
observation is a critical element of the Brigade and Battalion's ability to more fully understand, react to, and control
the operational environment.

On today's battlefield, information dominance is crucial and the soldier is the Commander's most valuable weapon. By
diligently observing the environment the soldier will be able to identify and report objects, people and events which
contribute to Command's full understanding of the AO. Things worth reporting include objects which are dangerous or seem
out of place, people who are behaving in a suspicious manner, and things which are obviously related to enemy activity
(such as weapons, explosives and uniforms). As information is being reported by all soldiers, Command may then be able to
put together seemingly disparate information to attain a more complete view of the AO and will be better able to direct
soldiers in the field.”

The McKenna MOUT site is the location where training in the concept of Every Soldier a Sensor will occur.
Players must use key clues to find an IED cache while engaging enemy targets in a timed environment. A Go or No-Go will
be given based on number of suspicious objects observed and reported, time of completion, and number of enemy targets engaged.
Successful completion of the ES2 training will allow players to accrue points for observing and reporting suspicious objects
within the ES2 Border Co-operative Multiplayer level.



ES2 Border (Multiplayer Co-Op)

”Intelligence has identified this small border village as a hotbed for hostile activity and the likely source of IEDs used
in recent attacks. The local population is a mix of insurgents, sympathizers and pro-democracy civilians. The sprawling
village borders a highway which will be used increasingly in the coming months for friendly troop and supply transport.
It is imperative that the insurgency here is addressed with as little negative impact as possible on civilian infrastructure
and that any IED related activity be eliminated.”

This version of the Border level hosts a co-operative mission where a small village area with low hills is home to an armed
group of insurgents. Teams are encouraged while on patrol to be on the lookout for suspicious objects which may lead to clues
about current activity within the village.

=======================================================
System Requirements (have not changed):
=======================================================

The current Minimum System Requirements for AA:SF (Overmatch) are as follows:

- 3-D graphics card with 128 MB memory and support for hardware transformation and lighting
- 2.4 GHz processor or equivalent
- English version of Windows(r) 2000/XP Operating System with latest updates
- 512 MB RAM
- 3.5GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
- 4X DVD-ROM (not required for downloaded installations)
- Windows 2000/XP compatible system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card, sound card,
mouse and keyboard)
- DirectX(r)9.0
- 100% Compatible DirectX 9.0 soundcard
- 56kbps Modem or other network connection
- *Nvidia® nForce™ or other motherboard/soundcards containing Dolby Digital® Content Encoder required for
Dolby Digital® audio.


The current Recommended System Requirements for AA:SF (Overmatch) are as follows:


- 3-D graphics card with 256 MB memory and support for hardware transformation and lighting
- 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent
- English version of Windows(r) 2000/XP Operating System with all updates
- 1 GB RAM
- 3.5GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
- 4X DVD-ROM (not required for downloaded installation)
- Windows 2000/XP compatible system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card,
sound card, mouse and keyboard)
- DirectX(r) 9.0
- 100% Compatible DirectX 9.0 soundcard
- Broadband Network Connection
- NVIDIA(r) nForce(tm) or other motherboards/soundcards containing the Dolby(r) Digital Interactive
Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital audio


=======================================================
Technical Notes
=======================================================

********************************************
** IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SERVER HOSTS/ADMINS **
********************************************

NOTE: The cooperative missions will take significantly more CPU resources to run during normal gameplay
due to the additional AI processing load (shared between the server & client). Server hosts planning to run
Co-Op servers should plan accordingly. In addition, players running a Co-Op server and client on the same
machine will experience heavy CPU demand.

It is recommended that server rotations switch only from Co-Op level to Co-Op level, or MP to MP level for
best performance.


--------------------------------------------------------
GAME PORTS:
--------------------------------------------------------

The internet ports currently required to be open for America's Army v2.8.1 are listed below:

UDP - 1716, 1717, 1718, 8777, 27900
TCP - 14200, 20025-45, 20046, 20047, 20048, 28910

UDP ports explained:
1716 for the Game,
1717 for the GameQuery,
1718 for the Master Server Query,
8777 for the Standard UT Query, and 27900 for GameSpy.

TCP ports explained:
28910 for GameSpy
20025-45 for MBS Game Server,
20046 for the Auth server,
20047 for MBS, 20048 for DCDS, and 14200 for LAN.

=======================================================
What's Fixed
=======================================================

NOTE: This list only includes bugs present in v2.8.3.1 that have been fixed.
Bugs fixed related to new v2.8.4 features and certain security/exploit fixes have been removed from this list.

-------------------------------------------------------

Map Specific

- SF Floodgate: Fixed a bug that causes players to spawn in amidst the wrong team.
- SF Floodgate: Added several blocking volumes around AC units on upper level to keep players from accessing exploit
areas and to remove areas where player may become stuck.
- River Village: Fixed player blocking volumes so that players can no longer get on top of the AC units.

Miscellaneous

- Fixed a bug that prevents Weapon from coming back from the low ready position after sprinting
- Fixed a bug that showed incorrect Weapon FOV after weapon swap
- Fixed a bug that caused player to be unable to sprint after throwing a grenade while in scoped view.
- Fixed a bug that allowed a player to be able to select a grenade while firing
- Fixed a bug that causes an M4 with reflex sight to have a brief frame pop when player goes into zoom mode
- Fixed a bug that prevents M4 from coming back up after left-clicking while going up a ladder
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to jump higher than allowed aka 'superjump'
- Fixed a bug that was preventing a death message from being seen when killed by the Medevac Chopper's Rotor Blades
- Fixed Ingame Ban System

UI/HUD

- Fixed a bug that prevented carriable objectives from showing on the HUD when a weapon is shouldered.
- Fixed a bug that caused all text to disappear in dead chat after using Commo binds.
- Fixed an AA MBS filter bug causing bullets to not stick
- Fixed a bug showing incorrect points on player scoreboard on Forceclassed servers.
- Fixed a typo in forceclass disabled notification message. Also fixes demorectogglesound (and muzzle flash) so displayed
console message matches true state.
- Fixed a bug on AA MBS Filter for Minimum Honor that does not return desired result

Improvement

- AI improvements for hearing and improvements to network and CPU usage for non-relevant AI
- Improved distance calculations used in hearing to reduce # of calculations necessary.
- Disabled the delayed start on coop maps.
- Improvements to AI grenade throwing logic - much more accurate distance calculation, new logic that considers new
calculation when deciding to throw, reduced min distance to just outside of frag damage radius, and adjusted aiming
logic so AI should be better at grenades but still far from perfect (have +/- 5m max distance for distances less than
max throw distance).
- Adjusted AI cover seeking logic to better handle selecting from multiple available cover locations

---

Version 2.8.3
Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:13 pm by hivltg

What's New
=============================================
Our goal is to tighten up the game, increase performance and reduce the size of the installers. We improved the frame rate a great deal in this release. Some people have reported as much as a 40% increase - although performance varies based upon your specific system setup.

-Instant Action-
The new Instant Action mode of America’s Army allows you to quickly jump into the AA action without the need to complete training first. Now with Instant Action Recruit status you can play alongside veteran AA gamers and complete training at your convenience. Instant Action is available on any mission that is not restricted to Special Forces only players. You will need to complete Basic Combat Training in order to achieve honor levels higher than Honor 20, plus you'll gain the benefits of improving your skills as a soldier with each training level you complete! Your Honor will remain at 20 until you pass BCT, at which point you will receive all of the additional experience points you have accrued.

-AA Loader-
The new AA Loader checks your version of the game to ensure you are up to date with the most current release. It also provides easy links to other community tools and support information. The AA Loader requires Internet Explorer 6.0 or later be installed on your system.

-Flashbang-
The flashbang has been tuned a bit to make it more realistic. The effectiveness has been reduced when used outdoors. Also the blackout duration has been reduced.

-Weapon Reloading-
Weapons reload faster then before. Fixing jams and using the supported/unsupported function are also quicker now.

-Every Soldier is a Sensor (ES2)-
Every Soldier, as a part of a small unit, is a potential information collector and an essential component in achieving situational awareness. The updated SF Extraction mission includes new ES2 gameplay designed to embrace this new ES2 philosophy.

-SAI Creation Tool-
The AA Mission Editor now includes tools to help you set up and capture images for use with the Situational Awareness Indicator (SAI). You can customize the captured images and import them into your maps to enable simple SAI functionality. Look in the 'Tools/SAI Map Image Tools' menu to give it a try.

System Requirements (have not changed)
=============================================
The current Minimum System Requirements for AA:SF (Overmatch) are as follows:

* 3-D graphics card with 128 MB memory and support for hardware transformation and lighting
* 1.8 GHz processor or equivalent
* English version of Windows(r) 2000/XP Operating System with latest updates
* 512 MB RAM
* 3.5GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
* 4X DVD-ROM (not required for downloaded installations)
* Windows 2000/XP compatible system
* DirectX(r)9.0
* 100% Compatible DirectX 9.0 soundcard
* 56kbps Modem or other network connection
* *Nvidia® nForce™ or other motherboard/soundcards containing Dolby Digital® Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital® audio.


The current Recommended System Requirements for AA:SF (Overmatch) are as follows:

* 3-D graphics card with 256 MB memory and support for hardware transformation and lighting
* 3.0 GHz processor or equivalent
* English version of Windows(r) 2000/XP Operating System with all updates
* 1 GB RAM
* 3.5GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
* 4X DVD-ROM (not required for downloaded installation)
* Windows 2000/XP compatible system
* 100% Compatible DirectX 9.0 soundcard
* Broadband Network Connection
* *Nvidia® nForce™ or other motherboard/soundcards containing Dolby Digital® Content Encoder required for Dolby Digital® audio.


Technical Notes
=============================================
Important Note for Server Hosts/Admins The cooperative missions will take significantly more CPU resources to run during normal gameplay due to the additional AI processing load (shared between the server & client). Server hosts planning to run Co-Op servers should plan accordingly. In addition, players running a Co-Op server and client on the same machine will experience heavy CPU demand.

It is recommended that server rotations switch only from Co-Op level to Co-Op level, or MP to MP level for best performance.


Game Ports
=============================================
The internet ports currently required to be open for America's Army v2.8.2 are listed below:

UDP - 1716, 1717, 1718, 8777, 27900
TCP - 14200, 20025-45, 20046, 20047, 20048, 28910

UDP ports explained:
1716 for the Game,
1717 for the GameQuery,
1718 for the Master Server Query,
8777 for the Standard UT Query, and 27900 for GameSpy.

TCP ports explained:
28910 for GameSpy
20025-45 for MBS Game Server,
20046 for the Auth server,
20047 for MBS, 20048 for DCDS, and 14200 for LAN.


What's Fixed
=============================================

NOTE: This list only includes bugs present in v2.8.2 that have been fixed. Bug fixes related to new v2.8.2 features and certain security/exploit fixes have been removed from this list.


Bugs Fixed
- Demorec: Demorec system does not save files to the correct directory
- Demo Mode: There are no sounds from the pawns weapon when he is firing it.
- Shoothouse Map: Wrong m9 ammo is shown on the table
- Demo Mode: Muzzle flashes are not displayed on playback.
- SF Water Treatment Map: Player is able to shoot through bulletproof glass in Machinery Server Room
- Gameplay: Screen shaking is observed when player joins map and changes viewpoints
- Medic Field: Cap rank does not match rank on ACU Shirt
- Weapons: Obtaining 31 40MM rounds with the M203 causes the rifle to malfunction.
- GamePlay: Player observes camera shaking while dying.
- Steamroller Map: Objective shows up through concrete wall
- Hospital Map: Smoke grenade is eaten by truck.
- Guildhall SF Refinery - Reporting in Northwest & Southeast are not reporting correct area
- SF_CSAR: Player pawn stuck between building ground rubble and wall
- SF Courtyard: Rock/wall causes pawn to get stuck and bounce
- GuildHall SF Old Town: Player able to crawl under Tunnel Alpha floor and see other parts of the map
- VRS: VAE NPC goes into crouch position when action key is used
- Rummage: Lamps do not register bullet hits
- River Village: Building has a random ledge sticking out
- Rummage: Player movement is blocked when moving along the wall
- Rummage: Item on clothes line causes warping
- G15: Single player training missions show up with improper names or labeled as "untitled"
- G15: Player's name displayed too large.
- Stats: "Killed while capturing objective" statistic is not being recorded
- Rummage: Glitch on map, unable to move through doorway
- Viewing scoreboard while playing COOP maps causes log spam
- Rummage: Pawn gets stuck in SW Corner
- SF Hospital SE: NPC AI cause player to be shielded from live fire
- Rummage : Player gets stuck in one location
- Urban Assault: Stair well openings in Urban Assault have blocking volumes that allow bullets but not grenades
- Interdiction: Opening door causing collision with Civilian Informant, ending missing
- Excessive server log spam when AI hits movers or navigates to objective locations
- Editor: The "Possible Corrupted Installation" message box can become lost behind the splash screen forcing the user to force quit the application.
- Player is able to move while securing an objective if the player is self-healing
- Player may not spawn in the next round if they were leaning in the previous round at the time in which it ended
- GuildHall SF Floodgate: Player gets stuck exterior catwalk
- Training, Weapons Familiarization: Pawn rotation is limited to the bipod deployed scope when the weapon is not up

Crash/Exceptions Fixed
- Unreal Editor: Crash when using SAI Map Save Image

Miscellaneous Issues Addressed
- SteamRoller: Pawn warps across map when jumping on top of telegraph pole
- FOV changes back to normal while weapon is still zoomed
- Player pawn disappears from view when motionless against wall surfaces
- SF Floodgate: Assault player is able to disappear from Defense view.
- Rummage: Player able to get to barbed wire rooftop
- River Village: Player able to fall through map if jumped on
- Field Dressing: User can stay alive by repeatedly applying field dressing
- Player able to take multiple objectives without standing next to it
- Player can apply Field Dressing while looking through scope or sights
- Medic: Instant reload can be performed when a medic has an empty magazine and reloads while performing a healing action

Improvements
- Duration of flashbang too long
- Flashbang effectiveness outdoors is too strong
- SF Floodgate: Add Random Spawning to prevent grenade spam
- River Village: Rename the teams to "Assault Alpha" and "Assault Beta" since the level has random spawn points
- Increase the speed of the weapon reload, fixjam and supported/unsupported animations
- Demo Mode: Surpress UI elements from being displayed during playback
- Punkbuster: Update PBSetup to version 3.0
- Do not apply points to personal jacket that are obtained during rounds which forceclass is used on honor servers.
- Do not allow server administrators to forceclass individual players on honor servers without cheats being enabled.

New Features
- Add support to flag a map/mission as a night time level so that flashbang intensity is not reduced in night time outdoor zones.
- Introduce the America's Army Loader

Performance Fixes
- Opening console adversely affected game performance


Known Editor Issues
=============================================
White/missing viewports
When the Editor is launched, the viewports will appear to be missing or all white. To resolve this issue simply go to "View > Viewports > Configure ...", select one of the options and click OK.

Brightness/Gamma
When the Editor is launched the brightness/gamma will be increased. Adjustments to the gamma can be made in "View > Gamma Options".

Unable to select any map objects (static meshes, brushes, etc) using right or left mouse click
** This issue is specific to systems with ATI graphics cards ** and occurs due to Anti-Aliasing and/or Anisotropic Filtering being enabled. Disabling these settings has been shown to resolve the problem.

Dual Monitor Setup: Unable to move the Editor from one monitor to the other.
** This issue is specific to systems with ATI graphics cards **
To resolve this issue, click the View menu and uncheck "Automatically reposition windows".