I'm still killing myself trying to make optimizations (I spent several hours converting a series of ruins in to static meshes -- properly. that's why it took a few hours). Ultimately I'm going to try to gauge performance from the people playing the map during testing, as I range anywhere from 40-80fps in the streets on all maximum settings, plus some stuff in the Nvidia console. At the same time though I also have an 8800GTS, so, who knows.
In regard to the new MG42:
- The spread of the bullets is reduced to make the bullets hit mostly where the weapon is pointing.
- The recoil has been adjusted such that the MG is not flying uncontrollably all over the place. I'm still trying to tweak it such that it thrusts backward as the MG42 did.
- The weapon will operate on 250 round ammo belts instead of 100 round ammo belts as per stock RO. However, the player will only start with one in their weapon (so x0 in the lower left corner) and may only be resupplied with one additional belt to make for a total of 500 rounds at any given time.
- The weapon will begin to overheat after approximately 230 rounds (as opposed to what feels like 60-80 rounds in stock RO) have been fired on full automatic, meaning that the Axis player may keep sustained fire up for longer without the worry of his barrel melting. To compensate for this, the cooldown rate has been reduced.
- Tracer ammunition fires less frequently and makes the weapon a Maschinengewehr instead of a Maschinengeflare. Essentially, the tracers are now subdued in the color (a pale yellow) and are thinner and shorter than stock RO tracers, with the glowing emitter removed as well. This should make it easier for the weapon to be concealed, as it should be harder to locate, especially if fired in bursts.
I may have missed a few points, but that's the basic synopsis.
Also, just to dispel the speculation, the map will not feature Molotovs.