Did bz1 have something bz2 did not?

[AHadley]

Speaking of graphical glitches, does everybody get that high shadow effect bug? And is there any known way to fix it?

[bigbadbogie]

Yes. I have models that crash the game when they use high shadows. That is how bad that bug is getting.

[AHadley]

Any known fix or workaround except lowering detail?

[General BlackDragon]

in the odf: noShadow = 1

[Commando]

Things I felt bz1 had that gave it an advantage over bz2.

* Undeployable Recyclers and Factories
*  Weapon-linking & Multiselect (Both available in pb4)
* Dispensor-based camera navs and the ability to cycle through them using two keyboard commands.  That and only being able to select one nav at a time.
* The hunt command, granted I never found it very useful
* I think it had a follow close command too in addition to just follow.

[Fixxxer]

I hated BZ2 for a long time, but slowly learned to love it after playing some heavy MPIs with friends.  Now it's the only Bzone I play, however, Bz definitly has something Bz2 doesn't: Soul.

1- Storyline.  
Best. Plot. Ever.  It was easy to accept you were a soldier fighting in outer space leap frogging from planet to planet.  BZ2 has an okay one, but suffers from political correctness.  The only games that have made me stand up and cheer after completing/beating were BZ1 and COD4.  (Anyone else's heart skip a few dozen beats on that NSDF Venus mission when those unidentified units were poping up every couple minutes on sky eye? )

2-Music.  
Beyond amazing.  Was so heroic, foreign, and eerie all at the same time.  Did it's job pulling you out of reality and setting the atmosphere.

3-Physics.  
To touch on what Avatar said earlier-it's using a racing game's engine.  You could "feel" the inertia in tight turns and jumps.  BZ2 feels like you're on a crystal calm lake.

4-Voice Acting.  
Was easy to forget they were fictional characters.  The secret to any good book, movie, or game is a plot that makes you emotionally invested in the characters (care).  Who didn't respect General Collins, or hate Arkin, or love Razor 1???  Not to mention Grizzly 1's retrospective testimony before each mission launch.  "Mars ....the Greek god of war and the blood red planet..."  (Gives me goose bumps just remembering.)

5-And finally, Technology.
Bz did a great job of presenting the world to the player all while keeping one foot in the futuristic door while the other firmly planted in the plausible door.  Even though the units could hover, they still had a look and sound to them that reminded you that they were war machines that had only one purpose, death.   Comparatively, BZ2s clean cut, smooth curved, emaculate paint jobs, and fisher price color schemes just don't invoke the same level of seriousness.  Also canon wise the pinnacle of non-Fury Biometal technology was the big bad Walker.  Stepping back from that and hovering units to BZ2's tracked units just feels wrong.

[bigbadbogie]

Remember that BZ2 was actually rushed out the door and is virtually incomplete.

[Dx]

Remember that BZ2 was actually rushed out the door and is virtually incomplete.

I would say the same for Bz after the endless bugs i found.

[TheJamsh]

Why is everybody slating the orange paint jobs? Lets remember something here, the units themselves probably come white from the factories, the orange and other colour is youre SQUAD's colour.

You are ORANGE squad, there are other squads in the game, blue, green, red. If you were meant to be in one of these then the colours would have all been just that. The colours also had to fit into every world that was created for them. I think the colours looked great, and i think that the units are FAR more attractive than BZ1 units. Personally i HATE the NSDF skins.

I KNOW that i will prefer BZC over BZ1 when it releases (if ever). BZ1 just feels like 'any old game' to me, BZ2 gave me a real atmosphere. I don't see whats so bad about the music in comparison to BZ1. I have both BZ1 and TRO music included in the addon pack for your enjoyment, but to me its more of that 'God Bless America' over-patriotistic crap that i can't stand. BZ2's music felt much different to me, granted i could hear some overused samples in there, but the tracks were great. On a slightly sadder note, i have often been falling asleep listening to music on my ipod, and when a BZ2 track comes on it takes me STRAIGHT back to my earlier childhood.

Back then i knew nothing of modding, and i appreciatted the game for what it was SO much more. To me, BZ2's modability is what kept the game going, and what keeps me interested in it. I would have become drastically bored of modding much sooner, and would have done what i did yesterday much sooner (That is, to buy a PC copy of the Unreal Editor for 'Gears of War' and learn a new game engine, which if you haven't heard me natter on about it is in my opinion one of the greatest software engineering acheivements in the game industry yet).

I must agree however, that BZ2 physics always felt like there was something missing. But, with a little time, effort and a few opinions, you could re-create those physics so easily, and achieve whatever on earth you want.

As for critisicing the walker, tracked unit and hover unit mix-up, i suggest someone takes a peek at Avatars not-so-old 'Why Walkers' topic, that showed off some spectacular technology.

[Warfreak]

"PINNACLE OF ALL NON-FURY TECH IS THE WALKER!!!"

That is a pure out praise of the walker. He complains about the need for treads when hovers did the job back in the 60's.

[bb1]

In essense, I would have expected HoverAssault to come way before the concept for treaded. Imagine the NSDF Assault Thunderbolt prototype with the rocket bays on a swivel with the engines- Light the sky.

"I know our units float and hover and don't die in the water, so why not make them treaded?" Says Arkin's son while holding millions of whatever currency suits whoever.

"Agreed!" Says ISDF command, taking the money.

[bigbadbogie]

Treaded units should have been included in BZ1.

[Dx]

Treaded units should have been included in BZ1.

Since I76 had wheeled and MW2 had good mechs, Bz should have used them along with the headlights and better working collision detection.

[GSH]

That's the story of *why* BZ1 was developed. In Interstate '76 (I76), they did some tests, and some of the most expensive CPU code was the code to keep the 4 wheels & car body on the ground. Going to hovercraft removed 4 wheel calculations per craft per frame. Big win, at the time. They then needed a story/setting to work w/ the tech they had.

Nowadays, with dedicated physics engines like Havok, wheels are a LOT cheaper.

-- GSH

[bb1]

Plus, who really wanted Call of Duty: Space, anyway? Hover = good and defines BZ. They could've kept the tac and speedometer and it would still work, even though speeds posted in the manuel or information differ from the actual ODF. Be cool to see how many RPMs a v-thruster would shoot out. 1 bar X 1 million? Nifty.