Modern Warfare 3 interview: 'The hardest part is the stress'

Modern Warfare 3 producer Mark Rubin talks about working on the world's biggest game franchise, why 3D engines are not as important as fun, and updating Modern Warfare 3 post-release without patches.

[Pandamobile]

Soooo, the weapon config files are serverside, rather than clientside?

[Caleb_141]

lol

[FragMnTagM]

Didn't Reach already do this?

I remember many times signing in with no patch/update and the playlist data and stuff like that was changed.

So I don't think they are the first to do this.

[ATi_Elite]

they are full of shite! anytime you tweak or fix a game it's called a patch and 90% of the time you gotta download a patch to fix it.

They must have a few items only accessible on the server side but other than that this article is over stating the truth. PC has been doing MMo's for a while and they still have patches even with many objects on the server side.

accessing the info from your HDD is faster than getting it from a server so I see why COD games LAG so dam much cause the idiots are putting too much info on the server side along with that STUPID p2p play system.

Guarantee a patch will be released with in 10 days after MW3 launch.

so many disagree = so many people who do not know how anything works.

[theEx1Le]

There will be a launch day patch, there has been in the last 3 cods. The most annoying thing is the game seems perfect just pre-launch. I always get cod at least 3 days before launch and its fine, when the first patch hits, bam! its ruined in some fashion. MW2 was the party system fecked up and no trophies for single player, WaW was just unplayable because it was impossible to find a game and black ops was the same. All of these problems weren't there days before launch.

[Jdoki]

Sounds to me like they've just chucked as much as they can server side.

However, Guild Wars does background patching - so it's not impossible - I just can't see how MW3 would do it when it's essential everyone is on the same version.

They could possibly stream patches for MP while the player is in SP. Or they could drip files down when a player accesses the MP menu and you have to wait for it to download the player config files - but I'd be shocked if they never launch any patches.

As you said ATI, sticking everything server side could cause performance problems.

[-Alpha]

I remember Naughty Dog said the same thing, but I totally recall downloading patches for the MP. Sounds like wordplay.

[RyuCloudStrife]

your CoD's #1 fan since you comment on all their articles lol

[Christopher]

Weapon config (point values) and similar multiplayer tracking elements (kill streaks, k/d ratio, etc.) have to be server side, otherwise there would be a lot of hacking that would imbalance multiplayer like never before.

This pretty much just says they can do some updates with the servers, but everyone already does this normally. There will still be patches, though, that players will have to download and update.

[bozebo]

Chances are that your player settings are stored on Activision's central servers and the details are pulled from them by the game servers (or P2P host) that you connect to which then handle basic 'anti-cheating' (ammo, health, kill counts etc. but that is just sensible programming) and report back to the Activision servers - which is where any security problem will be (P2P host hacking like hacked MW2 lobbies or potential dedicated server hacking). I don't even know if it will have dedis - but BF3's dedis can only be run by authorised game server providers for security reasons (this might be why MW2 had no dedis but the unlocks and things were client side anyway!).

It is good that they are doing it this new way because they can make many tweaks without interrupting the game experience but on some occasions there will be standard patches to application modules to fix bugs as normal.

[Ezio2048]

cool...:)

[Wizziokid]

they will need this tech if BO and MW2 are anything to go by.

[r1sh12]

BO and WaW could be updated without a patch...
Its an INI file which gets updated, look at black ops top right corner to see the latest version of that file.

Its not new tech, treyarch have used it for some time, for some reason MW2 didnt have it.
MW3 will, I think I read a while back that gears will have something similar

[theonlylolking]

So that means we will get poor hit detection like all treyarch call of duty's. =(

[Motorola]

IW get hit detection pretty good. At least on PC.

[Hayabusa 117]

Yeah, that makes me suspicious. Aside from the playback feature (which wasn't well implemented in Black Ops in my opinion) there isn't anything from Treyarch that IW should be copying. Everything Treyarch does in their COD games feel inferior to IW. Let's hope it actually won't affect hit detection and latency :p

[bozebo]

Treyarch's playback was programmed by IW in the original engine that BO borrows (same engine as CoD 4).

IW just didn't use it on consoles because the RAM and potential backing storage limitations meant the accuracy of recording had to be low (so what you see in playback isn't an accurate representation of the gameplay itself). CoD 4 on consoles was a port from PC unlike the newer ones which were/are developed primarily for the 360.

Also, it cannot record better than the network conditions allow - the networking is less precise on console games because MS set bandwidth limitations for games which are allowed to make use of XBL due to their XBL EULA and service requirements which state a minimum broadband speed that games cannot exceed! Forge mode in Halo does though, but the core MP doesn't.

Also, if a game is to be P2P it can't have highly accurate networking because home 'server' conditions are unpredictable - so they go for a low threshold of quality across the board to reduce disconnects and host swapping in-game and to speed up matchmaking.

Consoles need dedicated servers too, in all honesty.

[SRTold]

So what?

[grailly]

I've heard this many times for other games, but there always were patches after all

[r1sh12]

In a case like this, the reason game devs do it is to try and balance the game if they find a gun to be too powerful.
An INI file can allow simple damage changes caused by weapons etc...
Where as a patch would fix graphics issues, threads colour, lighting and some bugs to clean the game up.
They could still use a patch to change weapon damage, but if there is a massive outcry like with painkiller, it can be done remotely to get a 'hot fix' in place to stop people getting annoyed.

[ExitToExisT]

thats great news for cod fans , they wont need to download 15 patches this time

[dkgshiz]

Just goes to show you they are already expecting a battalion of game breaking bugs. Quality control is hard when you have to crap out a new game every year. Two years is the minium in my opinion. A game every year is milking it and the quality shows that.

[theEx1Le]

Erm thats not what it shows, it shows they will have easier control to balance weapons without bothering the user to update, alot of games could do with this. I can't quite count how many patch release notes for bad company started with "tweaked the m60".

[QuodEratDemonstrandm]

While I have to agree with you that Activision is milking CoD, there are two different studios tasked with development. Treyarch is no doubt working on CoD 2012 right now. Sometime before year's end, Infinity Ward will get started on CoD 2013. So, in the end, CoD games are in development for two years. I imagine a lot of annual releases are like this.
While I'm no fan of CoD, I have to admit I like the idea of IW beefing up security, making the game less vulnerable to hackers and cheaters. Hopefully, while it probably won't stop them all, it should put a dent in the number of them out there. I know a few MW fans, and they're tired of the cheating.

[narutogameking]

Each COD game has a 2-year dev cycle. Infinity Ward and Treyarch take turns each year. Try again troll.

So going by your logic they shouldn't have this new tech? They should expect their game to be perfect?

[J_Cob]

What Narutogameking said.

[TheTruth89]

the same for black ops, and uncharted 2.

[FlashXIII]

Wow this is probably the most innovative thing to come to COD since COD4.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Too bad Blackops is only known for its good security. everything else like spawns, latency, and hit detection is a joke.

[narutogameking]

spawn camping is only a problem in demolition. It can only be executed by an actual team that communicates well so it's rare for it to happen to you.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Yeah Maps like NukeTown is the thrown of spawn troubles, for me at least that map is beyond ridiculous.

[FlashXIII]

Spawn camping? The game treats everyone as if all the players have ADHD.. you get spawned right in the action half the time so you walk two feet and boom dead. Amount of times I've spawned literally into opponents cross hairs and the amount of kills I've got from people spawning right next to me.. it's a joke.

[bozebo]

Yeah the spawns are horrible. It is down to the mappers being inexperienced (also, things like stairs should have ramp geometry for the player clipping group but they dont! if you sprint into them you bounce off sometimes lol - this even affects the CPU usage of the game because it has more polygons to check in the physics engine; it all adds up). I have done quite a lot of mapping for CoD4, CSS and various Unreal Engine games so I know a fair bit about these kinds of things. (Mass Effect also has relatively bad mapping lol).

The spawning system in that engine allows a lot of different metrics to be set up, but they clearly weren't used properly or they used the same config for all maps.

[miDnIghtEr]

Are the COD haters really being this idiotic on purpose right now? I mean, I understand that time and time again you all have to comment on a game you hate and won't play, but nowhere are they saying there won't ever be a patch.

They're talking about how they can do hot fixes right now, WITHOUT having to do a big patch all the time. And it's awesome. Black Ops has been doing this, and this is why there is no hacking going on like there was in MW2.

I don't know were all these phantom COD hackers/glitches are at for Black Ops, but I've played that game none stop, and have not seen ANYTHING close to what MW2 had in terms of hacks.

And again, to the COD haters fueled by boredom and hate... they're not saying there won't be patches. They're just letting you know they can do hot fixes as well without making us all download huge ass patches like all the other games do.

[FragMnTagM]

Huge patches? What platform are you on? On the XBOX patches are normally aroun a few kb's some are just a couple mb's. I wouldn't call that huge.

I have however, seen some pretty big patches on a few PS3 games I own.

[SegataShanshiro]

Ps3 fanboys never talk about the 350 mb patches that they need to install wheb they wanna play a mo game on the ps3...... like fucking mgs4 online....

[narutogameking]

B-b-but I thought it was an expansion pack! Maybe you haters can finally realize that there's many changes to MW3 that aren't visible from a gameplay video.

[Yo Mama]

This is BS! They can say this is a new feature all they want but, I vividly recall Robert Bowling saying the same thing two years ago before MW2 released. And how did that turn out?

They need to stop playing with damage values of weapons and perks so much after the game is released and people have gotten used to the way they work. MW2 drives me insane now with the amount of hitmarkers I get. When the game was first released I didn't have those problems. You can't tell me they haven't played around with and adjusted different things.

[outlawlife]

hit markers are client side, totally dependent on your connection to the host

nothing changed

[GRIMLOCK_79]

everyone knows the ll be the same hacks and more.

[thespaz]

Mortal Kombat does this as well.

I think it's a good thing they're doing this. I don't think this will affect lag because once the system gathers the new server info, it retains it until the next time you boot up.

Also, Rockstar does the same thing with Red Dead Redemption multiplayer. They can tweak things on their side without making the user download a new patch.

[trenso1]

Lol i feel he was dodging the question when asked about what was added to the engine seemed very vague to me.

[Ocean]

Yeah same here....lol

[Studio-YaMi]

That photo of the soldier face look like Al-Qaddafi LOL ! xD

[SAE]

lol xd

[SegataShanshiro]

He says " theres nothing left of Quake in call of duty's engine" Oh yeah? hypocrite piece of shit, when MW3 is released please people, read the little letters on the CD and God almighty in heaven, it will say 1999-2011 Id Software , he cant admit that all call of duty games use an engine that is 12 years old that even a dreamcast can run, and please do look for the Id software credits on all call of duty game discs, you will be amazed