Battlefield2 modified using Python

ElysiumGX · Feb 2005

linked from Slashdot, sorry

http://www.fz.se/artiklar/article.php?id=786
Lot's of great info about the game. From checking out the screenshots, this is looking excellent.

One of the coolest things from the article is the ability to modify the game using the Python programming language. I took a course in Python years ago, and even tho it hasn't caught on to the masses, I must say it's the easiest and sexiest language around.
http://www.python.org/
With the tools being released, plus support for Python, I imagine this game's mod community is going to explode upon release. The BF42 community was weakened by the fact that mod tools took forever to be developed.

http://www.eagames.com/official/battlefield/battlefield2/us/editorial.jsp?src=communityupdate_020405

Any possibility of loading this into the Polycount server when it's released, since the DC server isn't working?

KDR_11k · Feb 2005

Python is also the script language used by Blender and I think a growing number of commercial applications.

iMag · Feb 2005

XSI has had support for python for ages now. supports vb script, perl script, pythonn and jscript for scripting purposes

SyaPed · Feb 2005

Good cuz the whole HL2 mod thing has bombed...Hah, nah I guess it's still too early....

Soccerman18 · Feb 2005

I wonder how the performance will be, didn't think python was as fast as C and C++ since it doesn't have the optimizations that a compiled language would have. Actually, a while back I wrote an AI and I had to do it in C because python was too slow, the AI would have been incredibly stupid if I did it in python. So while it would be a lot easier to mod something, if the code is set up well, I'm curious how much of a performance drop there'll be.

ElysiumGX · Feb 2005

KDR: I installed Blender on a computer during my class. But I really couldn't use the program to show them anything Python related. That was years ago when the app was 10x worse than it is now.

I know about XSI being Python compatible with scripts. That's awesome. I just try to keep my XSI fanboyism to a minimum here. hehe

@Soccer: It appears most developers use C/C++ for all the aspects that require the most processor time. Python is used mainly as an extension for more simple tasks. I once experimented with Pygame, and it is very slow, even for simple side-scrollers. But integrated properly with C++ seems to show excellent results atleast in the development, concept, and modification aspect.

I see Python as a great introduction to programming for those interested in game developement. There's no way I could learn C++ without it. So I would see this as a benefit to the game mod community, where good programmers are needed for total conversions. I own Visual Studio 6, from my Visual Basic class, which is no good for playing with HL2 unfortunately. I would hope Battlefield2 would use Python for simple scripting such as vehicle and weapon funtionality. That's something I would enjoy experimenting with. I have no time or patience to learn specialized game scripting such as UnrealScript.

MoP · Feb 2005

Yeah that sounds cool, a more simplified language so that people who aren't hardcore coders can easily edit stuff like guns and vehicles to give their models custom attributes in the game... neat!
Also, the screenshots look cool - if it's half as fun as BF1942 it'll be a regular for our LAN gaming sessions

Daz · Feb 2005

Yeah much looking forward to this one. It's a shame it slipped . Still, hopefuly that'll make it less buggy.

Downsizer · Feb 2005

The creators of the engine I'm using decided to make a scripting interface through vb.net, or c#.net. Python looks great but I still think VB is easier. I learned enough vb.net to handle most game functionality in less then 2 weeks.

KDR_11k · Feb 2005

Python is free, one major advantage over .NET.

Battlefield2 modified using Python

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