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Hardmaps history
From a co-op server on a new ADSL line in July 2003 to a squad, a forum and a community that still meets on the forum and on TeamSpeak.
How it started
Hardmaps was formed in July 2003 by Wedge, who had just got a new ADSL connection and started hosting co-op games in Delta Force: Land Warrior, a few hours at a time. The server got popular, and Wedge made good friends with the regulars, so he left it up more and more.
In January 2004 he bought hardmaps.com to give the squad a home, and things took off. The *HmS* squad is invite only: it takes a special person to wear the tag, and we care more about unity and friendship than size. New squad members meant more servers, for Task Force Dagger and Joint Operations too, each with player stats feeding one main database.
The site grew with a gallery, a big download section, an arcade and a busy forum. The squad ran a free Ventrilo server, and admins kept every server running smoothly. The site was maintained by three crew members: Trevor, grunt and Wedge.
Based on the text on the original Hardmaps website from 2004.
The forum in numbers
The forum opened on 24 May 2004 and has been open for over 22 years. It holds 48,019 posts (5,447 topics and 42,572 replies) that have been read more than 1.3 million times, and it is still in use today.
Most of that traffic was not about maps. The most active and most viewed topics were jokes, funny movies, a game quiz and the long-running “I Spy” thread, which reached 1,290 replies. The one gaming topic in the most-viewed top 10 is the 2008 news about Delta Force: Angel Falls. Hardmaps was a place to hang out first, and to play second.
Timeline
- July 2003Hardmaps is formed by Wedge, hosting co-op games on his new ADSL connection in Delta Force: Land Warrior.
- January 2004Wedge buys hardmaps.com and starts the *HmS* squad. More servers follow, including Task Force Dagger and Joint Operations.
- 24 May 2004The Hardmaps forum opens.
- December 2004MeKen, host of the Joint Operations server, posts a thank-you list of more than 50 map makers. Shadowman has already built 177 maps.
- 21 May 2005Signature and avatar hosting launches: members can upload their own sig and avatar to the site.
- 2005The busiest year for sign-ups: 475 people join the site. 2006 is almost as busy with 450.
- 2005 – 2007The forum’s biggest threads start: Squad Chuckles, Funny movies, Game Quiz and I Spy.
- 24 June 2006Hardmaps starts running a Delta Force Xtreme server with the VX MOD.
- 21 January 2007International Conflict MOD update 4.1.2 is released.
- 6 February 2007The new Bear Force MOD joins the Delta Force Xtreme server lineup.
- 2007 – 2008The Hardmaps movie makers release a series of videos, including a stunt movie, a fly-through of our maps and a Crysis demo run.
- 5 February 2009NovaLogic combines the three Joint Operations lobbies into one.
- 1 June 2009International Conflict Europe (ICE) update 2.0.1 goes out and the Hardmaps ICE server is updated.
- 5 March 2012The squad explains what it looks for in new members: team players who join in on the forum and on voice chat.
- 16 June 2014The community says goodbye to Chuck (*HmS*Ole Fart). See the memorial below.
- 20 May 2018A new Hardmaps TeamSpeak server is announced. TeamSpeak is still there for the community to talk to each other.
Thank you
Hardmaps was never the work of one person. For twenty years it was built by people who gave their time, their machines and their creativity for the love of the game. This is for all of you.
Map makers
Servers need maps, and the Hardmaps forum has always had a section to thank the people who made them. In 2004 MeKen listed more than 50 Joint Operations map makers from A to Z, from Amp to WildTurkey, and wrote: “without you all, we didn’t have some server to run.” For Land Warrior, Wedge pointed to Shadowman and Trevor. Map makers who found the thread were thanked by the squad, and some stopped by to say how much it meant to be noticed.
Server hosts
To everyone who left their machine running for years and kept the servers going: every game played here started with one of you. You kept the servers online, up to date and fixed when they broke.
Admins and moderators
To the admins who kept the servers and the forum fun and safe. You looked after the rules, the people and the small things that keep a community friendly. That work is rarely noticed, and it is why this place felt like home.
Signature makers
To the signature makers: your creativity gave members a look of their own and gave the forum its colour.
Every member
And to every member who took part and made Hardmaps.com their online home: thank you. Without you there was no community, only a server list.