Brink to use Standalone Dedicated Servers, pre-load early on Steam
Today has officially turned into Brink day, what with the environment art, and the new tutorial video. Well, now information on the shooter's dedicated server system, so without further ado, hit the jump and get informed.
Pre-loading on Steam
According to an FAQ over on the Bethesda Blog, the game will be available for pre-load on on Steam prior to the game's release. That's good news in and of itself, yet not too surprising. Still, more specific information on this convenience will be discusses at a later date, according to the blog post.
Standalone Dedicated Servers
The game will also contain dedicated server support in the form of a Standalone Dedicated Server. What this does, is allow anyone to run multiplayer servers for the PC version of Brink. Since it is standalone, it does not require a full version of the game to be installed and is completely free. It will be made available for download on Steam prior to the game's release, and once available, you just browse to the Tools tab in your Steam client and grab it.
Users will be able to run several instances of the server on a single machine as it comes with several "pre-made bat files that automatically define different ports for each instance." It’s also possible to set custom ports, and includes several different game configuration files. These files cover the regular game modes including: campaign, stopwatch, objective, and co-op. Additionally, a variety of server-side commands are available so that you can customize your server, including: "team sizes, time limits and overtime, warm-up rules, friendly fire, voice chat, availability of Command Post buffs, rank restrictions, number of bots, and password."
Those who represent a Game Server Provider can install the standalone from Steam so that you can get servers up and running for your team. Server files should be out before release so that you'll already be set up when the game comes out. We’re currently aiming to have the server files available before release so you’ll be all set when the game comes out.
Brink hits PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 May 10 in the US and on May 13 in Europe.