Dec 04 2008
The evolution of 2Fort
2Fort! The very name brings back memories of snipers, medics, scouts, and sentry guns. For those of you that do not feel like reading all of this – long story short, 2Fort went from a 32 – 64 player map to a 12 player map. If your still interested, keep reading.
Back in the days of Quakeworld, 2Fort went through several changes and there were several versions released. On any given server there were sometimes 2 versions of 2Fort – 2Fort and 2FortR. Back then, the maps were big, by todays standards they were huge. The standard server usually had 16 player slots – 8 players per team. Even though the standard server ran 16 slots, there were servers that had 24 and 32 players slots – 12 and 16 players per team. At one time there was talk of 64 player servers.
One of the major reasons why these 64 player servers never became popular, was due to the system resources the server required. Back in the mid to late 1990s, memory and processors were not cheap. And just how expensive was the memory? Around $3 a meg, and up. Each player that connected to the server required around 1.5 megs of memory (if I remember right), then add the amount of memory required by the servers operating system. For a 64 player server you would have to have at least 96 megs of memory just for the players, then add another 100+ megs for the operating system – lets just round that up to 1 stick of 256 megs to be on the safe side. Just for the memory, the server owner would have to spend about $768. Leasing a server at that time was not an option. If you wanted a server, you had to know someone with access to a T1 or better.
Even though there were plans for 64 player servers, they never became popular mainly due to the technology limitations at the time.
2Fort was the map of the day. There were other popular maps, but 2Fort was the one that just about every server owner had in the rotation. Maybe one reason why it is so popular is because of how simple the map is. Unlike a lot of maps at the time, 2Fort was simple – there is the enemy now go shoot them. New players figured out the map pretty quick. Maybe that is why 2Fort gained so much popularity? The truth is, its a combination of a lot of features that makes this map so popular.
Quakeworld 2Fort
When Team Fortress Classic was released, I do not remember any 32 player maps. There was a lot of “stuff” going on in the gaming world at that time. In the late 1990s there were several games on the market and all of them were competing to be the top dog:
Quake 1 – Released June 1996
Quakeworld – Released December 1996
QWTF or just Team Fortress – Released August 1996
Quake 2 – Released December 1997
Quake 2 CTF – Released Feburary 1998
Half-Life 1 – Released November 1998
TFC – Released May 1999
Quake 3 – Released December 1999
Even though Quakeworld was just a improvement of the Quake 1 networking code, it offered superior gameplay to regular netquake. That is why it is listed separately in the above list. Even though Team Fortress was released before Quakeworld, once the improved networking code was made available for download, most of the players switched over to Quakeworld Team Fortress.
When Quake 2 was released in December of 1997, players were expecting QWTF to be ported over to it. There was all kinds of talk on the old bulletin boards of when Quake 2 Team Fortress was going to be released. Even though a Capture the Flag modification had been released for Quake 2 just a couple of months after the games release, the community still wanted Q2 Team Fortress.
In November of 1998 Half-Life 1 was released. The gaming community was scratching its head. Quake 2 had been out for 11 months, and there was still no Team Fortress modification? What was going on here? Up until November 1998 ID Software with its Quake series had ruled the first person shooter community. And then Half-Life 1 came along. Then the world changed.
It was somewhere around late 1998 to early 1999 that the rumors started floating around – there was not going to be a Team Fortress for Quake 2. The little start up company that had released HL1 had bought the rights to Team Fortress. This ensured that there would never be a real Team Fortress modification for any Quake series game ever again.
Team Fortress Classic was released in May of 1999. It was close to the original, but different enough to have a new feel. TFC was a hit with the gaming community. The bad thing, QWTF had just a fraction of the player base it had just one year earlier.
TFC 2Fort
There was a lot of confusion, bitterness and anger towards ID Software. Why didnt they just buy the rights to Team Fortress instead of Valve Software? TF was made for Quake and it should have stayed with Quake. Quake and TF went together like birthday parties and cake. This was the sentiment at the time.
Personally, I do not know “why” the management of ID Software did not buy the rights to Team Fortress. Its just one of those great mysteries of life.
The glory days of TFC lasted from 1999 to 2007. Some players claim that TFC is still going strong, and as a matter of fact, it is. There are few multiplayer games that can claim the popularity that TFC can. Even today, after playing the game for years, there are the die hard fans that can not even think of playing anything else.
Fortress Forever was released in September of 2007. Even though 2Fort was not included with the original release of FF, it was included with an update a few months later. Most FF 2Fort servers are set for 16 – 22 player slots, with 8 – 11 players per team. Even with a full 22 player server, there is plenty of room.
Fortress Forever 2Fort
Team Fortress 2 was released in October of 2007. Instead of going for more players and bigger CTF maps, Valve software went the opposite direction. The standard TF2 2Fort server has 12 player slots – 6 per team.
One of the major changes to the tf2 version, there is a cover over the bridge. From what I heard, this is supposed to make it easier for players to cross the bridge without getting sniped.
TF2 2Fort
And there you have it. The story of 64 player 2Fort servers, how we almost had Quake 2 Team Fortress and how we went from a standard 16, 24 or 32 player servers to a 12 player server. Scroll back up to the top of the page and take a look at how “big” the QWTF 2Fort is compared to the TF2 version.
Personally, and its just my opinion I am very disappointed that Valve software has decided to go with smaller and fewer CTF maps. Maybe, just maybe one day the Team Fortress community will have 64 player maps. Like the ones that were dreamed about years ago.
Long live Team Fortress.
Now visit the Team Fortress Forums.