Project Reality has made hardcopy this month in none other than the British Army’s long time publication, Soldier magazine. The April 2008 edition contains an article in the gaming section on the British forces firm entry into FPS gaming with noted help from serving British military training staff and a team of specialised programmers and designers.

Quote:

Report: Cliff Caswell IT is a familiar sight in Iraq – troops in desert fatigues piling into the back of a Warrior armoured vehicle against the backdrop of Basra’s Contingency Operating Base. In the distance, a Royal Air Force Merlin helicopter is taking off, carrying soldiers to the insertion point of another op while elsewhere squads are planning their next mission, analysing intelligence and sizing up what the enemy might do next. WO1 Alan Rudduck of The Light Dragoons, however, is some 3,000 miles from Iraq. Based at Blandford, he is in front of his PC playing Project Reality, a virtual military campaign that is becoming a cyber space phenomenon. The brainchild of Swiss game designer Noel Tock, Project Reality is a specially modified version of Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 2 package. The free-to-download add-on has been given a full overhaul by a team of volunteers to include the latest British uniforms and equipment. Maps of southern Iraq are already available while a virtual environment of Sangin, southern Afghanistan, is under development. “Once you play this you are hooked,” admits WO1 Ruddock, who is a member of the Active British Army (ABA) clan that regularly patrols the game. “To join our team, you have to prove that you are a soldier and we will check up on you to make sure.” While anyone, serving or not, can play Project Reality, you should not expect a simple first-person shooter. Weapons take longer to reload, vehicles behave in a realistic way and stray bullets can put you out of action immediately. The emphasis of the game, which requires the original Battlefield 2 disc to play, is on tactics and teamwork as well as dexterity. “Noel had seen that there was a community in the UK that wanted a game that realistically represented British military forces,” says Jason Dooley, one of the senior members of the development team based in Michigan, USA. “From previous examples in games we had seen, the portrayal of British Forces was half-hearted, so getting it right was one of the areas we wanted to focus on.” And the developers’ efforts have not gone to waste. Project Reality is now a weekly, Thursday night ritual for members of the ABA team and their experience has made them formidable opponents. One of the regular players, SSgt Craig Turner, LD, is also a military adviser on the Project Reality development team, where he has been helping to bring the latest British kit to life. And he certainly has the right credentials for his consultancy role – the Army has been his way of life for nearly 20 years. The senior NCO, who is now on a second tour of the Communications, Information and Systems School in Bovington, has served in Iraq, Cyprus and Bosnia. An enthusiastic gamer since 2003, when he set up an online network to play the original Battlefield Vietnam game with friends, his involvement with Project Reality began when he heard from a friend that a British Army modification of the game was being created. “I later had an email from someone on the project asking if I would be an adviser,” SSgt Turner recalls. “My job is to look at the models of the equipment and say what is right and wrong about them.” For the volunteers designing the kit, making sure details are accurate is key. “I got into all this by playing games,” says Steve Kennedy, who crafted the Apache helicopter in Project Reality. “When drawing up designs I look at photos and, in some cases, have model kits made.” The future promises to be interesting and gamers can expect an increasingly realistic experience. “With the game being online, British soldiers can meet wherever they happen to be based,” says SSgt Turner. “We already have one person based in Germany and another in Tidworth joining us in the ABA. You can get totally immersed.”

The basic article can be read for another month at Soldier - Magazine of the British army and don't forget to check the links to browse the magazine before rushing out trying to find a copy to keep for yourselves!

Also, a previous article on this website about the Bovington PR staff visit should help you out with some pics of the environment and of course the staff themselves!

http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f12-project-reality-news/25221-project-reality-rac-bovington-camp-visit.html


The staff at Project reality thank Soldier magazine for visiting the team at Bovington Armoured training camp for interviews towards producing this article. We thank the serving and ex-military personnel for their input in the path to creating a comprehensive and fun modification for Battlefield2 and of course the community for their feedback and support.

See you on the virtual battlefields!!!

-The Project Reality Team

The Project Reality Mod Team and Black Sand Studios are proud to announce the official release of the Project Reality v0.75 Client Patch and Server Update!

Following the Project Reality v0.7b Server Update, we have been continuously working to improve multiple aspects of game-play and resolve bugs. Thanks to the continued support from you, the community, and our dedicated team of testers, we have successfully corrected many of the bugs in v0.7 and added several new features and tweaks. To download the Project Reality v0.75 Patch, visit our File Links page for a complete list of links, including both torrent and direct downloads.




Bug Fixes and Tweaks
We have concentrated on tackling as many bugs as possible, here is a list of the major issues resolved in the Project Reality v0.75 Patch.

• Militia rally collision mesh improved
  
• Scimitar tracer length reduced
  
• Building glitches removed
  
• Increased "time to live" of laser targets to 30s
  
• Added a 3 second delay-to-use on all stationary heavy and light machine guns
  
• Removed heavy anti-tank missile warning for the targets; improved aiming and control
  
• Weapon handling improvements and tweaks, especially for the sniper and designated marksmen rifles
  
• Improved ammo bags and field dressings to not fall through the floor
  
• Updated deployable assets rules to enable building next to 2 supply crates
  
• Improved Warrior and Scimitar cannons
  
• Improvements to armor turret stabilization and thermal vision.
  
• Officers no longer see the health of vehicles (engineers now have this ability)
  
• Grenade throwing range, as well as grenade explosive force and radius have been reduced.
  
• Grenades, smoke, and other items that are thrown have deviation when running and/or jumping.
  
• View the complete Change Log here.
  

New Maps
[R-DEV]Dr Rank & [R-CON]DVB-PARAMEDIC.CA, each virtuosos in their own right, have a real treat in store for you with the addition of two new maps.

-Bi Ming (Daytime)
Dr Rank has converted his map "Bi Ming" into a daytime version which includes various mapping tweaks and changes. Be sure to check out Rank's Dev Journal post for more information.



-Operation Archer
Paramedic's "Operation Archer" was originally intended to be the first map to feature the Canadian Forces Community Mod. However, considering that our forums are flooded with requests for new maps, it will be featured in the 0.75 release. It will have the USMC in our insurgency game mode fighting a talibanesque force in a mountainous region of Afghanistan. It boasts a vast view distance, heavily fortified checkpoints, hidden caves and not to mention a huge central village composed almost entirely of destructible shacks and buildings.




Revised Maps

• All map tickets have been reduced by 100-150 tickets.
  
• Kashan Desert 16 has been revised and now focuses on infantry combat, supported by airborne transport helicopters, support trucks and jeeps.
  
• Sunset City 64 has been revised with less emphasis on cp capture and more battling over the heart of the city.
  
• Road to Kyongan Ni 64 APC's removed to increase freedom of tactical movements and cover.
  
• Fools Road adjustments made to the CP capture order.
  
• EJOD Desert tanks have been removed to emphasis mechanized infantry.
  
• Al Basrah has been tweaked to hopefully stop the server crashes. In addition, Insurgency Mode has been updated with only 3 weapon's caches active at the same time, as well as various other tweaks to civilians.
  

New Features

• Player-specific messages for kit request/commander (no more text spam at the top of the screen).
  
• Added a Demolish option for commander to relocate bunkers, firebases and AAs.
  
• Added Minefield map icon for engineers and commander.
  
• Replaced the deployable AA guns with AA missile systems.
  
• Most Rifle Ironsites have been completely redone.
  
• New Smoke Screen for Tanks and APCs.
  
• New helpful PR Tips displayed during loading screens.
  
• Added black screen when dead to avoid dead man spying.
  
• Added deployable supplies from Jeeps and APC's. These can be deployed anywhere on the battlefield and the Vehicles themselves can be re-stocked from firebases/bunkers.
  

Due to popular demand from the community, we have finally introduced the UH-1N Huey as the transport helicopter for the USMC (big thanks to Trahn Lee Liao from the EoD, Badscull from BGF and Jarleif from USI/PR... All from Black Sand Studios.)

The [R-CON]'s from down-under bring gifts. [R-CON]Chuc has created improved sights for several hand held weapons including the AK-47, G3A3, M68 Aimpoint, PKM and more! For all you crewmen, [R-CON]nedlands1 has provided a realistic "smoke screen" system. [R-CON]AncientMan has cleaned up your act with HUD changes and new PR tips.




New Shader Effects
Thanks to one of our newest [R-CON]'s, jodonnell and his partner in crime ctz (both on the award winning FH2 team), the effects of laying down suppression fire will be devastating on your enemy.




Project Reality Manual Updated
To see a list of all important changes made for the Project Reality v0.75 Patch and for a comprehensive guide, check out the newly updated Official Project Reality Manual:





Cheers,

- The Project Reality Team

Mod DB Mod Of The Year 2007
The votes have been counted, and the results are in! Out of 4,000 mods spanning across a variety of games and some 80,000 votes in total, Project Reality has received 2nd Place in the prestigious Mod DB "Mod of the Year 2007" competition. This is the second year running we have placed 2nd, a historical first in the 6 years Mod DB has been holding this competition. Only two mods from Battlefield 2 made it to the Top 5, the other being Forgotten Hope 2, who scored an impressive fourth place in the released category. We would like to extend our congratulations out to the Forgotten Hope 2 Team for their great finish. To see a video featuring all the winners from each category or simply see who finished where, head on over to Mod DB.



The Project Reality team would like to say thank you to everyone who voted for us and also to Mod DB for holding the competition. Your continued support of the modding community is much appreciated and helps spur our passion to develop our modifications even further. We would also like to say thank you to Black Sand Studios for their continued support and contributions to the Project Reality Mod. Without your dedication and support, Project Reality would not be where it is today. Thank you all!


Xfire Project Reality Developer Chat
In other news, last month's Xfire chat event was a raging success with nearly a hundred users tuning in for a Q&A session with the developers lasting a little over an hour. An immense array of questions was asked, covering all aspects of the Project Reality Mod. For those of you that missed it, you can read the entire chat transcript over at Xfire here. Here is just a small sample of the action to be found:

Quote:

Question: What can we expect in the new patch? Answer: It's basically just bugfixes and gameplay fixes. There are lots of things that will be changed greatly improving the gameplay. Question: When 0.8 rolls around will there be more open area combat or urban city combat? Answer: v0.8 will have a large focus on maps, and yes there will be plenty more urban city combat. Question: Have you found a solution for the M14 inaccuracy? Answer: Yes, all DM/Sniper rifles have had their accuracy/deviation fixed. Question: Are you planning on making more buildings where players can garrison troops? Are you planning on making more destructible buildings? Answer: As far as enterable buildings...I have it from a good source (me) that there will be alot alot alot of enterable buildings in the next release.. One map in particular will have nearly a 100 percent enterable buildings.. players should be able to hide anywhere their little hearts desire.. As for destructibles. we have a fixed limit of 1024 objects which can contain network information per each level in bf2, so that is our fixed limit.

Project Reality v0.75 Patch Update
Behind the scenes, our work continues more vigorously than ever as we endeavor to iron out the kinks in Project Reality v0.7 with our upcoming 0.75 patch due sometime in February. As promised, a server side only fix was released last week to server administrators that fixed a number of major issues, such as the commander asset bug. For a complete breakdown of changes, visit here in the forums.

Be sure to stay tuned in to the Project Reality website for more updates and news on the upcoming Project Reality v0.75 patch.



-The Project Reality Team