Firefall doesn’t seem to be optimised for multi-threading very well yet… well it is kinda optimised and uses different cores but the way it does palces a bit too much stress on one core. Here’s a work-around you might want which really does improve fps
A current project of the Firefall community is creating some sort of program like Eve University, A place where new players can go to have a friendly environment to learn the mechanics. At the moment due to the ridiculous cap on armies(guilds) there is just a spreadsheet with all the players who have offered their services.
A group Building a real life Tex Robot. They are taking paypal donations and red 5 will be matching the pledges
Progress
They also offered up their priorities for development in Firefall over on the forums and it actually sounds like a great list
I have never really had much to do with it mods and addons for games. Usually by the time I’ve finished the regular single player games that foster them my attention span for them is depleted and there is another shiney begging for my attention. It surprised me that Firefall had the capabilities for this as usually the mmo games I have played really don’t offer this sort of comprehensive support, in the case of GW2 they’re downright hostile towards them which really is a shame.
For Firefall, there is already a decent selection to choose from as seems to be the case with most games that open themselves up to modders. There is no official support but even the developers have recognized the wonderful things the community is creating and how they are improving much of the functionality. They may require an update or two in-between major game updates but Red 5 have been very open with a lot of their code so it is very easy for people to create them.
One tool you should grab first is called Melder, it is an addon manager specifically tailored to Firefall that well… manages much of the installation and organisation of your mods. There are others you could use, or you could even do it the old fashion way by copy and pasting into folders but this program really simplifies it.
It’s an exe that you run whenever you want to add or change these addons which needs no installation, you can even start the client from it. Adding any mods or addons is done by simply adding the whole zip folder (don’t unpack) into the folder Melder has the option for. They will then show up on the main screen and are activated simply by checking the box on the side. I had a couple initial problems with it, namely that I wasn’t putting the whole zip in and a weird bug where the check box wasn’t showing up but it has been working well for some time now.
There are a lot of great add ones to try to use. The ones I have loaded at the moment are
Crafting ui -A re-organisation of the crafting menu
User Waypoints – usually you can only create one but this let’s you add numerous waypoints on the map as well as connecting these together.
Surveyor – this program tracks and keeps all your scan hammer results so the remain easy to view in the map. A must have addon to keep track of locations.
World Alert – i really enjoy joining in with the events, and defending the POI’s will be even more important now with the added energy system. This program keeps track of the entire zone rather than those just close by. (DISCONTINUED)
Coordinates – shows up coordinates on the minimap… x, y, and the option for z. Good for noting interesting points on the map during screenshots or for relaying co-ordinates to others.
For the new player I might also recommend the glider addon that shows the optimal angle for a long smooth flight, eventually you get the hang of it but at the start it would be helpful. The other I may be trying out is the mod that gives the engineer females pants because ass cheeks aren’t for everyone. There are a lot more suited to just about every player so check out the forums for an updated list that seems to be getting longer every week.
Also one youtuber has started creating some great videos that go over some of the more comprehensive UI changing mods. They offer an excellent guide on what they look like and the functionality changes of these for anyone interested, some of these can be rather different as well so it might be worth taking a peek at these.
So if you’re giving Firefall a go or are a long time player i thoroughly recommend taking the plunge into addons to improve your play, functionality and the general experience. Maybe try making one yourself, the forums are rather friendly and there are many people who can and will give advice if you ever want to.
*Update 20.7.13
The updated list seems to no longer get updated which is a shame since some of the old addons have lost support and there are a few new ones that are very interesting.
Squest – a program that allows you to play and create custom missions. Seriously the concept of it is amazing
Airii – An in game timetable for the dropships that displays as a billboard near the landing pads. Already installed and I can see this being built into the client in the future
Calldown Hotkeys – Allow you to keybind items and consumable in your calldown list for easy access
Printer Data Link – tracks your current projects at the Molecular printer
The curse addon manager has dramatically improved it’s functionality with Firefall and might be worth a try now. I am still using Melder and haven’t tried it out but it is supposedly pretty good. There is a forum thread explaining it if you’re interested.
here’s a video that explains the new client as well as how to install manually
Inane ramblings ahoy that probably won’t interest anyone in he slightest who isn’t involved in blogging or the meta commentary surrounding it.
I wasn’t going to weigh in on the current meta blogging topic. What would a newbie(ish) blogger really have to add to the conversation; I haven’t been around that long, I haven’t been writing that long, and to be honest I haven’t even been reading them that long. But, the conversation is still going and I just wanted to make one thing clear.. Mmo Blogging is not and will not die in the near future as there will always be a place for written commentary. As long as people are writing there will be people reading. -Word Spam Ahoy>
Healing the masses 