Twinreaper

While these ideas are great, also please keep in mind that with each new armor piece and it's customization comes the chance of creating a clipping or collision with armor pieces. The armor in Reach was done in a way as to not have the pieces collide or merge with others drastically due to the set biped animations. Some armor or combinations of armor might require re-writing or tweaking of amny animation frames or introducing entirely new animations frames which also increases the production time. I think the editing system used in Reach is spot for middle ground appeasing...but yes they definatly do need more armor and add in the elites as armor editable as well. Elites seemed to have gotten the big old iron boot in terms of armor and customization. Sad.....I like playing as an Elite character too.

You dont needa capture card per say. If money is real tight like it is for me, you can always find a good deal on a USb to A/V cable. The rate of capture is a pricey HDD cost versus the capture cards, but can work well for game montages that dont require the highest of frame rates. I use mine all the time. I just plug in the A/V from the Xbox into the USb input and viola! Instant PC Monitor turned Game monitor via AVS Video or other 3rd party app.

Interersting problem my friend. if I had to guess at this one, I would say it is due to the server migration of Reach data. Your particular bug may be isolated to a batch or shifts in servers, or just isolated to you. Either way i wouldnt fret it. There are 2 different profiles for every player. the one stored on the game servers and the one that is downloaded and chacked against locally on your xbox. My guess is that during shifting something went whack-a-doo and for the time being is invalidating certain things since your console profile may not match what is currently on the main servers. Wait it out a bit and bear with it. If by weeks end there is no restoration or change, then you may want to give myxbox a call.

Ok, so I don't have a good method for displaying the data to you guys so I am going to type it all. First off let me say that arguing about bloom being a good mechanic or not...is like arguing if oxygen is a good living material to rely on. It just is and always will be and has and always will be a part of everything. Bloom is such a tired old term that the community has spawned to interpret what is actuall known as by the developers, "Error Angle". The resting period of the "Error Angle" is known to developers as "Error Acceleration" and Error Deceleration". because I grow so tired of the constant communities silly names for these things, we are now officially going to call it what it is... "Error Angles". The only change in this is in Reach, where they changed the labels of them to "Accuracy" and "Recoil". Yes those are actual tag developer field names, but they provide the same effect as it's predicessors. Do not try to argue this because I will butt rape anyone who tries to.....if need be. Lets get started shall we? "error angles" have been in every single Halo title, period. Here is the run down of weapons that use it. But first, the wepaons that don't. Halo 1: Weapons without "Error Angles" (bloom) - Rocket Launcher, Plasma Pistol. Halo 2: Weapons without "Error Angles" (bloom) - Plasma Pistol, Rocket Launcher, Fuel Rod Halo 3 Weapons without "Error Angles" (bloom) - Plasma Pistol, Rocket launcher, Fuel Rod, Spartan laser Halo Reach Weapons without "Error" " 0 Recoil" (bloom) - Beam Rifle, Rocket launcher, Target Locator, Plasma Launcher, Grenade launcher, Plasma Pistol, Fuel Rod. Concussion Rifle, S. Laser Thats right. Every weapon that was listed has no "error" or recoil" (bloom) value defined. Every single one is listed as "0" which means there is no effect. Now on to the list that does contain it.... Halo 1: Assault Rifle: 0 (absolute Minimum vector the first projectile can hit) 0.0349066 (basic minimum error angle) 0.1134464 (maximum error angle) Needler: 0.0349066 0.0698132 0.0698132 pistol: 0 0.0034907 0.0349066 Plasma Rifle: 0 0.0087266 0.0872665 sniper rifle: 0 0.0087266 0.0087266 shotgun: 0 0.1745329 0.1745329 Halo 2: magnum 0 0.004363323 0.02617994 needler: 0.008726646 0.008726646 0.02617994 Battle Rifle: 0 0.005235988 0.01047198 Beam rifle: 0 0.008726646 0.008726646 Cov Carbine: Same as Battle Rifle Plasma rifle: 0 0.004363323 0.01308997 Shotgun: 0.03490658 0.1396263 0.1745329 SMG: 0.01745329 0.01745329 0.04799655 Sniper Rifle: 0 0.008726646 0.008726646 Brute Shot: 0.004363323 0.01047198 0.01047198 Halo 3: Magnum: 0.0008726646 0.008726646 0.008726646 Needler: 0 0 0.05235988 Assault rifle: 0.001745329 0.001745329 0.05235988 Battle Rifle: 0 0.002617994 0.008726646 Beam Rifle: 0 0.008726646 0.008726646 Cov Carbine: 0 0.005235988 0.0147198 Plasma rifle: 0 0.008726646 0.02181662 Shotgun: Defined as all 0, but projectile tag has error defined SMG: 0.004363323 0.02181662 0.04799655 Sniper Rifle: 0 0.008726646 0.008726646 Spiker: 0 0.008726646 0.02181662 Brute Shot: 0.002617994 0.006981317 0.006981317 Halo Reach: Plasma Rifle 0 0.004363323 0.01308997 Assault Rifle 0.004363323 0.008726646 0.04363323 Magnum 0 0.008726646 0.05235988 Plasma Repeater 0 0.008726646 0.01745329 Brute Spiker 0 0.008726646 0.02181662 Needle Rifle 0 0.005235988 0.01396263 Sniper Rifle 0 0.008726646 0.01745329 Needler 0 0 0.0008726646 DMR 0.002617994 0.006981317 0.006981317 Shotgun 0 0 0 Projectile roor defined in projectile tag Now that you have the actual tag values from the weapons, according to the data itself, you can see how every weapon functions with the values defined when you use it in-game. This also brings to mind, the old debate about which weapons were better, H2 or H3 BR, and DMR vs BR. Conclusively according to the data, at tag default values, not TU ones, the BR from halo 3 would beat out the DMR in terms of accuracy and power. You can check for yourselves the actual damage modifier values located in eachs' respective [proj] tag. I dont have time to hold your hands .... So there you have it folks, a complete rundown on what you will still call (bloom), that IT IS IN EVERY HALO GAME PERIOD. One more thing. I believe I read in this thread that Reach was built around the bloom mechanic. Well I got news for you, the game is built around the engine. Weapons don't even get seriously handled until about 3/4 of the campaign is finished. Weapons and how they function are created around the campaign and mutiplayer aspected assets that are already in-game and mostly 99% complete. What kind of assanign statement is that to make...that the whole game is built around the weapons functions with bloom?!? Perhaps you should go read the myriad of journals available from various developers about how the whole process works. And with that, I bid you all a restfull night. Sleep well knowing that I AM BACK!!!!!!!

Ok, seeing as how much me and my knowledge filled rants were missed, and by popular demand.....I AM BACK!!!! Lets start this ***** off right shall we? Maxwell, AA's are in no way similar to CoD and existed long before CoD. Perhaps you need to go back and play Halo 1 and Halo 2. Halo 2 in particular is where we first saw characters with unique armor and an ability came with that armor. Remember the Elites on High Charity with the jetpacks? Remember the Arbiter and Elites with armor ability camo? Remember Tartarus' Armor Lock/Bubble Shield variant shield system that protected him from damage? Point blank, AA's were on the minds of Bungie long before CoD introduced the "perk" system into CoD. If anything, by timeline....you can effectively say that Activision took a note out of Bungie's playbook and added them based on their work. Your point is not valid because of the way you are comparing them. And if I remember correctly, you called Halo Reach to be a "Non-Halo" game because of AA's. Explain that taking into account that Characters before AA's in Reach were given armor variant abilities. You can't argue it. You know why bro? Cause it's a FACT!!!!! Halo had it well before CoD. But any way you slice it, you can always find games that draw off ideas or creations and implement them differently. It is inevitable to have a game or group of games draw on anothers aspects and play style.

I'm making an exception from my leave to answer this silly thread once and for all. I'll post the main response up later, with exact values taken from all Halo titles weapon tags, to show that bloom was in every title, what wepaons had what bloom setting, what exactly bloom is, and why you people still a year and a half later have trouble understanding or using bloom at all. Stay tuned!

Wow. thats about all I can muster to say. The many comments and kind words that have been floating around today, is just about too much for one man to take. I am not usually a very emotional person, but I must note, seeing the comments from you Jester and Dog...actually made my eyes well up. The amount of support and friends I have found here since I have come has been and always will be a living tribute to what this site, it's members and future members are truly all about. Words cannot express how much joy, and at the same time pain, fills my heart that I must step back for a while and subside into the shadows. Any member of this wonderful community could not have asked for better friends, and in return you and this community has my eternal friendship and admiration. Someone posted up how much people look up to me here. I can't say I agree at all. I never once thought of myself as a figurehead or a role model or even as a teacher. In truth, I looked up to all of you everyday. Watching as people I knew...and didn't, came here and started off with a fiery passion; posting, relaying comments with fury and pouring their hearts into this. It is all of you who in truth, that taught me, and guided me into what I did everyday here. thank you so much. Well, before this turns into a total Brony love fest of sorts, I will just leave things as they were before I arrived. The same old awesome place it always has been....just a little quieter now without me and my rage fueled rants. Be good 343i community, and know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers each and everyday! When I do return, I will be sure to give the Mods a heads up first. Peace out guys, and thanks! Twinreaper signing off....semi/perm.

Congrats Quantum. The staff couldn't have picked a better MoM successor. Wear the title with pride my friend, you most defiantly earned it!

That was directed towards a certain Elusiv little **** of a mommas boy.

In preparation for my moving to another location, coupled with the influx of flaming towards me lately, I am taking a break and have not decided when or if I will be returning. For those whom will be missed (too many people to name), I will still have my Teamspeak up and if you wish, we can catch up there, and I am sorry. As for those whom barely know me or had yet to reach out to know me, you will not be missing anything. It is quite clear that a majority of members see me as nothing more than an annoyance. So for now, and maybe forever, you will just have to get your information or help with the game specifics elsewhere. I won't be logging back in to check messages or posts after midnight today, so if you do want to get a hold of me, my e-mail is in the MSN contact portion of my profile. See you all later or never! Reaper out.

This is just getting ridiculous. Hey Dog, Jester, Fire or even Twam...can we just ban this little **** already? Or do I have to go thru another round of knocking this **** to the ground in my own defense?

Don't even bother trying to help this little ****. He's officially on my "list", end of story. This little spaz-tastic turd of a girl-boy hybrid is obviously so deluted with himself and rank in Halo, that he seriously believes being good at a game dictates how well you have gained success and respect in life. Hey tool bag....let me know how that high rank in Arena pays off when your looking for that promotion from gas pump attendant to car wash attendant.

Talk's big behind a computer? I have my address listed on my profile troll. Want to test how tough I really am? I'll be waiting for that knock on my door, and I'll have an ambulance for you on stand-by. See how internet tough talking just seems to fail? Do you get it? Aside form this, I am a well respected member of this community, and various modding communities throughout the world. I'm sorry that my knowledge surpasses your own and you can't seem to deal with it. Perhaps you would like one of us here to call your mommy for you? Would a hug make you feel better about your own stupidity? How about you go and research everything I have ever posted about subjects and see for yourself that in the end I know exactly what i am talking about. The nerve of some 12 post trolls around here. What does my rank in Halo 3 have to do about anything? So what, am I supposed to believe that because my second profile mind you, only had time enough to be ranked up to what it is, dictates that I know nothing? I'm sorry that I used my free time to study "real world" things, instead of playing with myself and my controller obsessively.....as you quite obviously are accustomed to. Do me a favor girlie....get the **** out of my house, and never post here again. You quite obviously are not here to do anything more than flame people who have a higher intelligence and understanding of the game than you do. If you want to build up your ego or even look big in front of others...thats what the B-Net and Waypoint forums are for, not us. Get the message slugger? great, glad we could have this little talk....

Lol, thanks for that Ashlynn. I won't be around much at all in the coming weeks so consider this a reading vacation for those I cause headaches towards with my lengthy posts. Enjoy the break guys!

I smoke but not chain smoke. Drink on occasion. I fart, burp and chew on the inside of my mouth (the cheeks) and bite my nails. Also have a tendancy to scratch my balls thru my pants when in public...especially when out with the kids..

Is it only me, that seems to recall a lead developer leaving the team early on? Do you think this didn't set the team back? TBH, I don't see what your problem is. It takes far longer than most community players realize to compile a stable engine to test new tags, models, core implementations and such on. The engine coding alone, from scratch or with partial project code from another engine, can take 6 to 9 months to develop. They aren't keeping details from us because they want to blow our minds in one burst, usually when a developer has a set amount of content that they can proudly show without leaking future content, that is when they show us something. Like Agent said, just try to be a little patient. we all want to see whats going on, but these things take time.

Again with this garbage video. no offense to you, OP, but the guys in this video have absolutley no idea what they are talking about. I've watched this video before and commented on it in another thread from about 2 months ago. it was fail then, and is still fail now. nothing this loser states in the video is correct or has any idea how the game mechnaics work. He just goes on his fail rant trying to act as if he knows how the mechanics work on the core engine level. If you want to get into a discussion about these things really work, or why they operate the way they do, then it's me directly you need to apoint questions to...not some loser douches in their moms basement with a ****ty camcorder.

yes it is and well said. We really need to get together and pitch some ideas towrad 343i for rank and play systems. Combined I think we could make a very bold statement that would represent a compromising and enjoyable system.

This game is going to be Epic!!! I've been waiting since the concept art was posted all those years ago! You better keep us updated on this one Jester!

An interesting rant? This guy is completely clueless, and has not stated one fact or point about the game that is actually true. I can't even bother to make a proper post ripping this guy and his points to shreds. It's just that much fail....

No. Taking down the servers, kills the ability for the game to first connect to the server, then passing and tunneling the connection of your friend to you. Think of Live co-op as official company supported tunneling that effectivly mimics sytem link, but differently.

Insane Bear, you thoughts on the matter are extremely one sided. By your own posting, I can only assume you feel that gearing Halo towards the competeative side, is the only way to keep it alive? Halo was and never is in fear of dying. the halo experience is what each and every gamer takes away from it. The true feel, or game itslef cannot be dictated, designed or directed towards anyone, about what the experience should be or well the game is made. Everything in that sole aspect of the genre is completely opinion and everyones singular choice and view. Gamer averages are not a good method for dictating how well a game is made or enjoyed. there are many different genres and titles that have come out around and now after Reach. it is natural for populations to rise and fall during the coarse of a games life. no game ever keeps a steady population until the day it is removed from service. Your attitude, once again is very limited and one sided towards the gamers who make it their lives, to play competative. Do you really think the sales from only competative gamers would really be enough to warrant and supply resources for another Halo game by itself? The reason you dislike assassinations and AA's and loadouts, is becuase tyou are strickly a competative gamer who does not take the time to enjoy any bit of off the wall fun or casual experience in gaming. From my point of view, that is a big loss for you my friend. there are many good times to be had in Reach, besides trying to run around proving you are the king of the "Thumbs".

Ok so I gather that everyone who still plays Halo 3 seems to be in a bit of a hussy over the rumors about h3 servers being taken down correct? Ok I am going to try to explain this as best i can using what knowledge I have of their server setup as my basis....here goes. First thing is first. usually when gamers say "server", they envision in their heads, a small room with maybe a few PC's or racks with a couple of gizmos blinking lights. This could not be further form the truth in terms of layout and size of this setup. A standard small business alone, with networking services to clients, enploy a room roughly 30 feet x 40 feet, just to house the server equipment. Now in comparison, the amount of clients a standard small business is designed to target and deploy services to is marginally inferior to what Microsoft have to dish out on a daily basis just for it's Live services. From this comparison, it has to be assumed that a service as large and varietied as Live, requires an amount in total, nearly triple to this type of setup. Live not only hosts standard core services, but also is a middle man for off-site servers from many different game titles. Alone, to relay a game, based on current multiplayer sizes, would require at least 15 to 20 individual serve rracks, with at least 5x250gig drives attached to each one. And that is just for setting up and relaying clients connections to the main off-site servers. This process alone for games like MW3, BF3, take a lot of processor time, memory and HDD space just to supply a relay connection. besides the relay connection, we have what is called a "connection handlers". Connection handlers are like, little swimming pools, that are designed and policied to accept and hold an "x" amount of client connections. Now because there is no way to give every user an unlimited amount of resources devoted to them, the connection handlers also employ what is called a Limit Policy handler. This gives each client a set amount of resources that is devoted to each one. The reason it is required to know this, is that it gives you a good idea of how many servers are rquired to fully support a mass client community of 23,000,000 and that is by last years registered number. So assuming the population of Live users has increased even a tiny bit, it is feesable to calculate that at any given moment, there are at least hundreds of thousands connected at one time, just to play one game. Reach alone had hundreds of thousands just fro it's launch, and thats not including gamers that were playing other titles. A single server at todays specs, can host about or just under 10,000 simultanious connections with resource requirements above simple internet surfing. So with an estimated user base of 300,000 players just for Reach, Microsoft had to setup and dedicate around 30 server units, just to supply enough client connection resources for the influx of gamers. who knows what their total number was in actuality. Also keep in mind, that each server is also running an instance of the Live servcie, and the specific game it supports. So now that I have given you a better idea of what the size of the equipment and usage is, lets move on to halo 3 in particular. Halo 3 was gigantic, only a fool would deny it. Halo 2 was purely unreal, and following that success, it is can be fairly agreed, that Microsoft would have almost doubled the amount of resources to fully support Halo 3. Now in the beginning, Halo 3 had roughly about 4.2 million gamers. Out of those, it can be said by activity and love people showed the game, that it is likely Live had at any one moment, roughly 250,000 to 3000,000 players playing or waiting in lobbies. Thats a whole lot of resources to hand out and a whole of servers to have running. By my personal estimate, it would have likely been a number around 38 to 50 individual servers powering the Halo 3 network alone. Now breaking that down inot component and size, each server rack in a standard server room hold about 4 to 5 racks, each one with a core terminal. The terminal is used to check status of the server and do upgrades on the software. Each rack is constructed to be about 3 feet in length and about at max seven foot tall. Times that number by the amount of servers it more than likely used, and you end up with a space at about 30 to 35 feet wide, by at least 10 foot tall. measure that out, and see for yourself how big it really is. Then think to yourself....this is just to support one game?!? Now of coarse the actual size of servers varies, and the size requirements. but one thing that doesn't vary is the set limit of resources available to hand out to supply the game in full support. All these servers require both a team to fix, repair and maintain. On top of that, each one requires a large amount of cooling, and energy to power them. Cooling alone is not cheap, as I did HVAC for years. let me tell you...the price for servicing server cooled systems is extremely expensive. So here we are 6 years later, and Halo 3 still gets a pretty descent amount of players. Six years folks. In tech terms of advancement thats like a hundred years. I hate to say it, but a time will come soon, that the equipment used for Halo 3 will lose support and fall behind the times to the point to which repairing and keeping them up no longer makes fiscal or resource sense. No company wants to hold onto 6 to 10 year equipment and pay the outragous price of upkeep if the product it supports no longer makes them money. In terms of financial gain, Halo 3 makes no more than pennies on the dollar for Microsoft right now. The amount of revenue it actually generates, in terms of new copies, new subscriptions just for it, etc..... is probably not even a fraction of what it costs them currently for the server and game upkeep. Judging from a company perspective, the sole reason why it is still supported is because besides Halo Reach, ther eis no other Halo game fully supported bu Live. Once halo 4 is ready to debut, Microsoft will be forced to make a choice. Either temporarily take down the Live servers for Halo 3 and consolidate them, and continue to lose money keeping them up, or take them down, upgrade them, and invest them all into a new game title. From a company perspective the choice is easy....take them down and kick halo 3 to the curb. I know this may anger a lot of gamers, but you cannot be so selfish as to just think about yourself. Would you really want the company who makes these games, lose money and eventually have less resources to develop more games? When Halo 3 does get taken down, it will not be because MS is a bunch of dicks, but because financially it is time to move on, and so it must be for the gamers. But fear not. When halo 3 does go away, you can be sure that not far behind would be a port of it to PC. Logistically, it is the only way microsoft could ensure gamers would still be able to play Halo 3, but not have to lose money or waste resources to do so.