What you see in this video is the vanilla BF3 client (with our modules loaded of course) functioning as a Dedicated Server, and being joined by another client.

You might notice that as opposed to the normal dedicated server, this one has no log output in its window. That’s because the retail BF3 builds have all debug logging stripped from them.

Finally, not everything is fully functional yet.
Features like RCON are missing, squad management is buggy, and control points don’t actually work.

We are currently in the process of fixing all those issues in order to be able to provide this feature to our players when we enter the Closed Beta stage.

If you wish to see a video of two people connecting to that server, click here.

This is basically a Proof of Concept of a BF3 client connecting to a local dedicated server without any support from a backend (be it Blaze or our custom backend).

This is currently buggy and missing a lot of features, however we know it can be done and we will be looking into it in the near future.

As you might have noticed, the Venice Unleashed Enlistment website has been disabled for the past few months.

Our goal was initially to collect ~7k enlistments, but due to various reasons (explained in the previous post) we decided to wait up till 10k.

 

So that’s what happened.

A while after we reached 10k, we closed the enlistment site and replaced it with a temporary website until we had content to showcase.

 

Now, if you have enlisted you might be wondering when and how you will be picked, how will you be informed, etc.

So here’s the process of selecting enlisted players that will participate in the Closed Beta:

 

First of all, all enlistments go through an automated filtering system.

The filtering system is responsible for removing duplicates and other invalid enlistments and then sorting them based on an automatically computed preference score (which is calculated using the provided enlistment data).

After filtering, we go through all the enlistments by hand and collect the ones that we think should be entitled to join the closed beta.

Finally, we input those enlistments into another system, which randomly selects them until it has reached the maximum number of accepted players and then randomly categorizes them into waves.

 

When the Closed Beta launches, unique serial keys will be generated for each of the selected players, who will then be notified on their provided e-mail.

Those serial keys will be redeemable on a website that will be provided at that time, along with instructions on how to acquire and use our client.

I should also note that players will be accepted in waves, which means that not everyone will be notified at once.

 

Moreover, we initially thought about selecting ~500 players for the Closed Beta, but because of recent events we decided to pump that number up to ~1200 players! <3

 

Finally, here’s an infographic:

September 14, 2013 Emulator Nexus, Venice Unleashed

It’s been quite a while since we announced Venice Unleashed… maybe a bit more than a while.

Now, there’s been a lack of updates (and news in general) in the past few months, and even though we prefer to stay rather quiet, we understand that this ‘silence’ can be frustrating for some.

 

So what happened? Where’s Venice Unleashed?

 

Well, the truth is that Venice Unleashed has been delayed for several reasons, with one of the most important being our desire to push more features that were initially considered for the Open Beta, to the Closed Beta.

To be honest, we could have released Venice Unleashed approximately two months ago, but what you would get would be a semi-finished product and as a result we would have to extend the closed testing period while we were implementing new features.

We thought that was unfair for the people that would not have been invited to the Closed Beta and we decided that it was for the best to quietly keep developing it until it was in a more complete state.

 

Of course, this wasn’t the only reason it was delayed.

Both me and kiwidog also have other obligations, such as university, work and various other things, causing our free time to be limited (even during summer).

But that’s that.

 

Now, what’s the current status on Venice Unleashed, you ask. What’s left to be done?

 

Well, there are several things.

My focus has currently shifted from the client to the backend services and I’m working on optimizing server-side performance in order to provide a stable and strong environment for our players when we launch.

On the client-side (which is currently kiwidog’s focus), the extension system is still not ready, as we decided to change several things in the way it works and handles extensions, and some of the new features that we developed haven’t been exposed via it yet.

Other than that, we’re also still in the process of removing most Blaze dependencies from the client, as we will no longer be emulating Blaze (and by ‘not emulating’ we don’t mean we will be emulating it locally, we mean that we’re actually stripping it out of the client and using our own backend services instead which provide us more flexibility and control, while opening the way for other features in the future *cough*LAN*cough*).

 

I’m hoping that we will be able to reach Deployment Phase 2, which is Internal Beta Testing, by the end of the month, which should bring us one step closer to Deployment Phase 3 (Closed Beta Testing).

In the meantime, here’s a video demonstrating our revamped WIP Loading Screen (excuse the choppy video, my PC is acting weird lately…):

 

In the next blog post I will talk about the Enlistments, give some statistics, and more info on how many players will be picked, how the will be picked and how they will be informed about their selection.

NoFaTe out!

September 6, 2013 Emulator Nexus, Venice Unleashed

Hello folks!

As of now, the enlistment system for the Closed Beta of Venice Unleashed is open!

Venice Unleashed is the name of our upcoming Battlefield 3 project, a/k/a ‘project Venice’ (for more information about features check the enlistment page).

So, whether you are a Battlefield Veteran, a YouTuber, a Modder, a DICE employee or just someone who simply enjoys video games, feel free to submit your enlistment request!

After you have submitted your request, we will review it and let you know if you have been selected when the Closed Beta launches.

You can access the Enlistment System by clicking here.

Got questions, bug reports or generally want to say hi? Feel free to mail us at info -at- veniceunleashed.net.

Note for you cheap kiddies: This isn’t going to be a way to play for free. A fully updated and licensed copy of the game is required.

Best Regards,
Emulator Nexus staff

So apparently DICE is very interested in eSports support for the upcoming Battlefield 4 game.

However, what they’ve forgotten to mention is that Battlefield 3 has an eSports feature dubbed “Matches” (eSports is the internal name).

Now, you may say that the “Matches” feature is just for organizing multiplayer games at a given time with specific options/settings.

Well, I say that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The eSports system has full support for specifying specific rosters for both teams, has other variable settings (like equipment limitations) and has full spectation support.

To be a bit more specific, when it comes to hosting a “match”, there are two types of players that are allowed to join (since the game becomes private):

  • Rosters (Competitive team players), and
  • Spectators

I should also note that these spectators are not exactly like the regular spectators I mentioned in a previous post.

They’re being handled specifically by the eSports system.

Now, I don’t want to make any promises, but the full featured eSports system might be included in the project code-named Venice at a later time.

So yeah, that’s about it for now.

Yet again, I fail to realize why DICE decided to remove such features from the retail game.
Makes me sad. :(

First of all, Venice is not a final name and is subject to change.
Moving on, here’s a list of things I want to finish before reaching public beta stage (public release):

  • A functional Blaze emulator with most needed stuff implemented (including stats and maybe coop)
  • Initial implementation of the Extension system allowing you to make gamemode modifications (more info on this will come later on)
  • An external application with the following features:
    • Keep your client up-to-date
    • Allow you to browse a list of active servers
    • Allow you to view info on a specific server and join it
    • Allow you to browse a list of active servers based on custom filters
  • Built-in variables allowing you to modify settings like blue tint, fov, etc.
  • Re-enable previously disabled game features (like spectating, etc.)
  • Basic support for file modifications

After public release I would like to focus on features like:

  • An ingame server browser
  • A more extensive Extension system allowing you to create completely new gamemodes
  • Web-based stat overview interface

And more…

I’ll be posting development updates mainly on Emulator Nexus forums but also on my blog.
As always, there is no ETA so all you can do is stay tuned!

February 19, 2013 Blaze, Emulator Nexus, Venice Unleashed

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