Battlefield 2042 Launches Its Portal Editor Early
The custom level editor for Battlefield 2042 is out a week before the game itself!
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A custom level editor for Battlefield 2042 is rigged to blow — the competition wide open, that is — a week prior to official release, Game Rant reports. Battlefield Portal, the Mario Maker of Battlefield, is a comprehensive new game mode allowing players to design, launch, and share their own maps for use in Battlefield 2042.
The web-based application offers maximum customization options like nothing first-person shooters have ever seen, with soldiers, locations, vehicles, and armaments made 100% variable, as well as a programming-heavy feature permitting changes around in-game conditions like A.I. behavior and prerequisites for winning. Battlefield Portal derives its core content from Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. Pitting Pacific War veterans against modern tech, or conversely, knife-wielders against combatants armed with compact defibrillators, is no longer an impossible dream. With Battlefield Portal, no setup is too ludicrous or unrealistic. Check out the initial teaser for Battlefield 2042’s custom game editor below:
EA DICE’s Los Angeles division Ripple Effect Studios chiefly developed Battlefield 2042’s Portal mode. The creation suite is split between two options: Settings and Logic Editor. Settings is for regular players with a preference for more rudimentary, user-friendly controls. Logic Editor, as the name suggests, is only for those knowledgeable about coding and thus isn’t as intuitive. But if harnessed correctly, it provides players with a wealth of gameplay variety not otherwise possible under normal settings. Customization is further subcategorized into five general game modes: Conquest Large, Conquest, Rush, Free-For-All, and Team Deathmatch. Though tweaking Settings is an open feature for all five modes, only Free-For-All and Team Deathmatch allow for in-depth visual logic scripting.
Anyone worried they may need to brush up on program flowcharts to use Battlefield 2042’s custom level designer have nothing to fear. Settings alone brings with it a breadth of complex modifications. Factions is the most easily tractable; players can choose from a growing military potpourri of eras, technological upgrades, and iconic scenery. Past fights present. Written history is armed with futuristic tanks and weapons and made to clash with a Battlefield 2042 army equipped with daggers. Set that up against a backdrop of the Caspian Border or the Battle of the Bulge from Battlefield 3 and 1942, respectively, or not — it’s your choice.
A group’s level of mobility can also change to suit every player’s preferred gaming experience. If an authentic wartime grounding is more your call, certain modern controls — like Aim Down Sights, unlimited sprinting, health regeneration, or laying on your belly and going prone — can be enabled or disabled at any time. Similarly, difficulty levels can be cranked up by removing Heads Up Display (HUD) and mini-maps, allowing for more lifelike navigation and surprise attacks, or way down by restricting which gear, vehicles, and specialist types roam the battlefield. Scale, on the other hand, can be either fair or downright batty, or even a bit of both. Ever wanted a high-tech squad of 10 facing down 50 men with knives in Arica Harbor? Battlefield 2042 is all for that too. Challenge yourself and bring as few footmen as you’d like, or an armada — it doesn’t matter. These could all be CPU or real players — or a mix of both, it all depends on your play style.
Unfortunately, delivering off-the-wall clashes isn’t always possible when conditions for battle and environmental reactions are preset and can’t be altered. In this case, taking advantage of the Logic Editor cannot be overstressed. Scripting tools are pretty nifty when redefining rulesets, personalizing victory conditions, and complicating the consequences of triggering or satisfying certain in-game events. Say someone in the map scores a double headshot, but with newer Battlefield 2042 equipment. In the Logic Editor, players can either reward that or enforce punishment — and the specifics are up to you. And though Battle Royale isn’t a feature both in Portal and single-player campaigns, almost everything else is. Gameplay should look like this:
Th following perks from previous games are available in Battlefield Portal at launch today: 40+ weapons (M1 Garand, Panzerschreck, G3, M416), 40+ vehicles (Spitfire, B17 Bomber, Quad Bike, Little Bird), and 30+ gadgets (MAV, Radio Beacon, Defibrillator, EOD Bot) from three Theaters of War; 1942’s U.K., U.S., and Germany armies and Bad Company’s U.S. and Russia; and soldier classes and archetypes like Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon from Battlefield 3. Classic maps also make their comeback in Battlefield 2042’s custom mode, specifically Battle of the Bulge and El Alamein from 1942, Arica Harbor and Valparaiso from Bad Company 2, and Caspian Border and Noshahr Canals from Battlefield 3. These fan-favorite oldies have been reimagined in Battlefield 2042’s next-gen visuals and improved processing.
There’s a section in Battlefield Portal for finished custom maps or Experiences, where the Battlefield 2042 community can share its designs with one another via codes or URLs, and monitor matches, give due permission to modify levels, and ban unruly players. Experiences are curated regularly, with the best ones displayed on the main Portal page. Players can either make their own maps from scratch or build on what others have already created. Content will constantly be augmented to give fans the most creative control and diversity over their design choices. Since only Portal is early access, gamers can’t execute and test out maps (only craft) until the full game comes out. Rendered using EA’s Frostbite engine, Battlefield 2042 releases on November 19 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
