Codename Eagle

Codename Eagle Replay Server

2009-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

This program replays a previously recorded CE multi-player game session within the actual CE game client. The program does this by emulating a CE server and playing back the game session to the client.

This is made possible by the fact thet CE is a 100% server based game in that all shared game variables are server controlled. (The disadvantage of this is that this makes for a horribly laggy internet gaming experience and thus CE can really only be enjoyed as a LAN game. Typically in modern FPS mutli-player game only a percentage of variables will be server based {e.g. projectile positions} and the remaining variables will be client based {e.g. local player world position and orientation}.)

For more information and instructions, refer to the readme file that comes with the replay server program.

{A link to the program to go here}

Screenshot of the CE replay server program:

Log Replay Tool

2009-07-02T05:01:00.000-07:00

This is a small program that will playback a recorded ce multiplayer game in a in 2D map. This program only works for the official CE multiplayer maps (unmodified).

To record a match:

Simply, before joining, replace the intended level's red.scr file with a modified red.scr file that will record a mutlipler game to the CE error.log text file located in c:\

Level numbers are:

Name:No mans land Val:128
Name:Breakpoint Val:129
Name:The palace Val:130
Name:Carrier war Val:131
Name:The airbase Val:132
Name:Fever valley Val:248
Name:Fortress Val:133

E.g. to record a No Man's Land match navigate to the ce\level128 directory and replace red.scr with the one that came with the CE Replay Tool.

NB The red.scr file only needs to be updated/installed on the client PC logging the game.

Then play, kill, win. When finsihed, quit CE, run the CEReplayTool.exe and load c:\error.log.

Thats it.

Enjoy finding out where that darn team-mate went off to at a critical moment.

Technical support is not provided so don't ask

Original map textures cannot redistributed with this program, so dont ask for them either.

Here are some examples of the CE Log Replay Tool:

In the above e.g., player's positions are represented by circles, the higher they are the larger the circle, also, stats like health, armor, ammo & fuel and whether or not a player is carrying the flag are also indicated. The scroll-bar at the bottom controls the replay.

In the bottom e.g. this shows the entire track in an hour long 3vs3 fortress map.

To get the CE Log Replay Program click here (linked updated 21 dec 2011)

Map Editing in Codename Eagle

2009-06-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Currently a work in progress but click the link to see what information I have published so far.

Dafoosa's Unofficial Patch v1.4.2 -> v1.4.3

2008-08-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

ce.exe v1.4.3 Features:

- Removes the 2000 limit on the 'viewdist' command line parameter. Draw the whole map every frame! Recommend ~ 5000

- Removes the zoom-out limit in the F9 view

- Removes the zoom-in limit in the F9 view (not so useful except for those extreme machinima closeups)

- Removes 100 ... 500 limit on the Field of View (FOV) F12 command line parameter (250 is default). Warning dont go much outside the original limits.

- Lengthened the vehicle popup distance so vehicles appear in the distance sooner. (NB CE must be set to high detail for this to work)

- Fixed CE hanging intermittently upon exiting the torpedo boat. This makes maps with torpedo boats now fully playable in multiplayer.

- Fixed Font scaling at higher resolutions so text does not overlap and it can be clearly read

- Similarly fixed the version display on the level load screen so it can be read at higher resolutions.

- Show teammates as a "T" symbol in the tab map (Todo: Hide phantom player re dedicated servers)

- Fixed bug in the scripting function "REFGetPlayerInx(PlayerNr, Inx)" to allows it to handle undefined PlayerNr's

CE really looks spectacular @ 1280x1024 with full Anti-Aliasing and a viewdist of 5000

Download the patcher here (link fixed 21 dec 2011).

Game.exe / Ce.exe Command Line & F12 Parameters

2008-08-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

mousesens

Mouse sensitivity. 1...15 Default = 5 (+ve is more sensitive)

place

Used with the in-game editor only, not applicable to the CE command line command. Places a new object in the map in edit mode.

viewdist

100 ... 2000

fov

Field of View 100 ... 500

fr on

Frame Rate display - Turn on

fr off

Frame Rate display - Turn off

connect

Connect to server with IP x.x.x.x

suicide

Kills you in 10 secs

teamchange

Swap Sides

kick "playername" (omit quotes)

Server only

scorelimit

Server only

fraglimit

Server only

timelimit

Server only

map "map name" (omit quotes)

Server only

nextmap on

Server only

nextmap off

Server only

Network Commands

latency

0....6. 0 disables (default). Theory is that this command can smooth out a jerky connection by introducing lag.

ping

nettest on

Displays some network info on the game level display

nettest off

maxresend

Default = 4

maxdup

Default = 2 lobby parameter - no limit

Cheats (single player only)

missionmaster

Gives access to all SP levels

healthmaximum

armorgod

Sets armor to 200 and absorbs all damage

debugce

In SP displays AI names and paths. Turns on run-fast cheat. Not allowed in MP.

codenamegod

Affects: para?, falling, player damage, F10 ends the level immediately, unlimited fuel, bullets, shells, gas & 44f5f0?

weaponmaster

All weapons cheat

Valid Codename Eagle command line arguments are:
+host [PORT_VALUE]
+connect 132.42.12.1:24711
+maxplayers 2-30
+name "joe black"
+team "red" [values: red,blue or auto]
+hostname "internal war"
+map "no mans land"
+game"deathmatch" [values: deathmatch,ctf or teamplay]
+dedicated"

CE Multiplayer Tricks and Tips

2008-08-01T18:45:00.001-07:00

High jumping (Two players required). One person stands still, the other tries to jump onto the still guys head (dead centre if possible), the instant he is in position the bottom guy holds down jump. If you are lucky both players shoot upwards. The height you achieve is unlimited but it depends on how centered the top player is.
Wing walking. Slow down the plane before getting out. You can refuel/repair a plane by wing walking.
Plane pickups. (Good for getting a flag carrier out of danger, fast). Best technique is to hold down right click to avoid being accidentally squished.
Surviving freefall without a parachute. Track into a vehicle (hold down right click just before you hit).
It is possible to capture a flag by skydiving onto your home flag. You die, but you capture the flag and it’s harder to be killed in free-fall.
Most vehicles do not have to be exited in order to capture the flag. But you do have to exit all vehicles to steal the flag in the first place.
On the fly repair / refuel. E.g. refuel and repair a plane by doing a touch n go over a repair kit or fuel can (don’t have to slow down either). Similarly with choppers. Shells can also be picked up in this fashion
Killing a player with a flag at their base.
Making vehicles jump (especially the truck) using turrets is fun.
Running on water. Need a machine gun & the parachute. When stopped in the water select and open the parachute. While it is opening press and hold the ‘5’ key. Press forward and you will be moving a run speed over the water.
Running under land. At certain points on a map with water, it is possible at a land water junction to get under the land/water.
It’s possible to gain altitude very quickly using a chopper by carefully edging up to the Bermuda triangle in “No Mans Land”. Hard to do.
Need to land a plane in a short space and time? Then land the plane on its wing tip while braking.

Other tips:

Always coordinate attacks with teammates. Don’t attack alone.
Staying alive. Find and use the 200 armor. With it you can survive very nasty near direct explosions on foot, where as if a vehicle dies while you are in it, it is certain death.
You get 60 points (instead of 20) for capturing the flag with your bases motorcycle.
You get 40 points (instead of 20) for capturing the flag with your enemies’ bases motorcycle. (These are bugs)
In a bomber, quickly swap to the gun turret to take out an enemy plane coming from behind.
Always fly using the mouse for much better maneuverability.
Guarding a flag. Drop some det-packs and go hide (learn to use the F4 drop camera to keep your view on the det-packs).
Also have a read of the ‘Codename Eagle’ on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Installation and Patching

2008-08-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

1. Install CE from the source CD. (You must have admin privileges to install CE.)

The installation is approx 400MB in size.

It is highly recommended that CE be patched as shown below before playing.

2. Patching

For the best single player experience, install the following patches in order:-

Version 1.33 Patch. (Filename: cebetaupd133.zip ~ 7mb)

This patch has an installer. (Warning it will try to install to the WRONG CE directory by default. You must manually pick the correct CE directory)

Version 1.33 Single player patch fix. (Filename: ce133fix.zip (very small))

Extract files as directed to the CE\level1 directory

Version 1.36 Patch (Filename: CEtst136.zip)

Extract files as directed

Do not patch any further from here if you still want to play single player! All patches installed past 1.36 will break the single player game

However for the most up to date multiplayer experience (including the addition of helicopters!), install the following additional patches in order:

Version 1.41 Patch (Filename: CEv1.41.exe full installer or CEv1.41.zip)

Unfortunately the 1.41 patch breaks single player and torpedo boats, but it does give the awesome helicopter in multiplayer and an excellent additional multiplayer level called "Fortress". NB I had some compatibility problems with the zip version of the patch once (multiplayer kept dropping out with “connection failed”), so I stick to CEv141.exe patch.

Version 1.42 Patch (Filename: ce141-142update.exe)

This patch mostly addresses the mystery death problem in multiplayer. This problem occurred when a bullet fired by a player penetrated underneath the ground. This caused spontaneous death of the player who fired it. The patch is map specific and addresses the problem on the default multiplayer maps only.

Version 1.43 Unofficial Patch (available from this blog)

This is a non-official patch made by me. For more information on CE v1.43 keep reading this blog.

The “CE Startupz” CE frontend program is also good for starting servers and configuring CE. You may also wish to install this program if you can still find it on the internet.

To play both the latest SP & MP (as I haven’t had much success with the version switchers available on the internet), what I prefer to do is once patched to v1.36, make a backup copy of the CE directory then continue to patch to 1.43 for multiplayer. Then just run the desired CE version from the respective directory.

Running Codename Eagle

CE must have admin rights to run. Either login as a user with admin rights, or configure the program’s shortcut to run with admin privileges (under the advanced properties for the shortcut).

For single player, the CD must be in the drive to play single player, however this is just for the movies. There is no copy protection once the game has been patched.

Starting Dedicated Servers:

After patching CE to 1.4x there will be a readme.txt in the CE directory with instructions on how to start dedicated servers. Alternatively, use the ‘startupz’ front-end program.

Moving the game

Once installed, CE v1.4x may be copied from PC to PC without having to re-install the game. I.e. the game doesn't require any Windows registry settings to run. However with CE v1.3.6, this version did require the following Windows registry entries:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Take2]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Take2\Codename Eagle]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Take2\Codename Eagle\1.12]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Take2\Codename Eagle\SrcDisk]
"Drive"="D:"
"Path"="c:\\Program Files\\Talonsoft\\Ce"
"Type"="Eu"
"Status"=dword:000ec62d

What is Codename Eagle?

2008-08-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

CE is a first person shooter game originally released in mid 1998. CE was one of the first games that offered the player the ability to run around on foot, or drive a range of land and air vehicles in very large maps.

CE single player is a great fun and definitely worth playing, with a great mix of running around on foot, driving, flying and turret shooting. However it was the multi-player (especially CTF) which made CE the best multiplayer experience ever. Unfortunately it is generally only suitable for LAN play, as everything in the game is server based.

CE is the big daddy of Battlefield 1942. There is also a BF1942 CE mod available.

CE was reviewed in PC Powerplay magazine #46. They gave it a score of 64/100.

Usable Vehicles:

Trucks, motorbikes, tanks, APCs and flamer tanks.

Bi-plane fighters, bombers.

Zeppelins.

Boats: Torpedo Boat, Destroyer with turrets

You can skydive and use parachutes.

On foot, you can shoot a variety of guns including a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher.