Homefront – Dedicated Server Details

Most multiplayer gamers would come to a common agreement that dedicated servers are an absolute must for a good online gaming experience. We couldn’t agree more to this.

Thankful to Kaos Studios and online developers Digital Extremes, we announce gladly that Homefront’s multiplayer will feature dedicated servers on all three platforms that it is coming out for i.e. PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, though HomeFront PC has additional features. Following is the rundown of the PC dedicated server features of HomeFront:

Players
The servers will have a maximum capacity of 32 players. In fact, Kaos Studios claims that the multiplayer experience is best when there are full 32 players playing in the server, since the maps are very large (somewhat like Battlefield BC2). There is also clan support for PC and Battle Commander and Battle Points features. This will allow a balanced and unbiased gameplay.

Steam
Digital Extremes, the company responsible for providing us the great multiplayer experience of games such as the Unreal Tournament series, is responsible for the PC-version of the game. The game shall be available exclusively through Steam and files for running dedicated servers from your PC, along with updates, will be handled by steam.

More importantly, for those mischievous hackers, the anti-cheat software used will be Valve’s own VAC – so permanent bans should keep those hackers and bad-doers off your servers.

HomeFront – Server Management
Initially, you’d only be able to manage the server via the game’s own RCON. The developers don’t restrict players to this, so 3^rd party RCON tools developed later on will be fully supported. However, the amount of changes a player can make to the servers seems to be limited, since all servers will be ranked.

Here are a few facts about the customizability of the dedicated servers:

• There will be no option to change spawn times or the weapons available to the players.

• No hardcore mode is included, so tough luck for the gamers who liked to kill and die quick. This is done mainly to preserve the competitive aspect of the game.

• Servers will be able to run in ‘mixed mode’, which will alter the game-types of the server automatically.

• There will be a “Message of the Day” support, and the option to make servers private is also a possibility.

• Admins will be able to toggle auto-balancing on and off, force a player to spectate, and switch members to a team.

• The dedicated servers do not required Steam Client to be logged in.

• For those who are interested in prematurely learning about the server variables, here they are:

Server Name
MOTD
Game Mode (easy to have mixed mode)
GC Score Limit
TDM Score Limit
Time Limit
Internet (off for LAN)
Vac Secured
No of Slots
Game Port
Query Port
AdminPassword
GamePassword
Friendly Fire
No Vehicles
Record Demo

• Developers are considering a patch that will allow a Ready-up Timer, Halftime team-switching/side switching and round numbers selection.

So what you have to say about these features ? and on Steam distributing the dedicated server files since publishers have been moving towards the dedicated servers exclusivity.