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LMS (Last Man Standing)


RenegadeOfPhunk

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Hey guys,

 

I'm trying to implement a LMS system in my mod. I have managed to implement a system of sorts, but it's full of bugs :/

I was just wondering if anybody else has tried this and has a more elegent solution than what I've come up with...

 

What I'm basically doing at the moment is - when a player is about to re-spawn, I set their team to spectator. I also set a new flag in the client data which indicates 'between-round' spectating - as opposed to normal spectating. I also store the players original team.

Then, when a new round starts, I clear the flag, put back the original teams and then re-spawn all clients at once.

 

Now, this does work to an extent, but wierd things happen - from getting wrong client data back, or you start taking damage even though no-one's attacking you!! (I guess your being linked to another client somehow..)

 

I guess all this stems from the fact that when you go into spectator mode, your client information is messed around with in some way. I know that it gets totally swapped when you follow another player - so I've disabled that for the moment. But even 'free' spectationg seems to mess things up too.

 

I'm gonna keep trying to get this system to work - and if I do I'll post what I did here. In the mean time, anybody's helps would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

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Originally posted by Kengo

Not sure on MP code, just want to say it's a really, really good idea!

 

Tell me about it! :)

 

Even though it's buggy at the moment, it's so much fun playing with the LMS system in place! It feels SOOO much more realistic!! :D

 

I'm gonna try my best to get this sorted so I can release this. I think it's gonna be what a LOT of people have been waiting for...

 

t3rr0r - worth a try, although I don't know if I fancy downloading the sof2 code just to solve this problem

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I made a LMS mod for JK2 a while back using what sounds like an almost identical method to the one you have described. It featured LMS as a totally new game mode. I gave up on it and moved onto another project which will make JK2 modding alot easier...

 

But from what I remember it was working fine when i stopped making it. It had a scoring system like CTF (point awared for killing, staying alive etc). Oh, and someone even made me 2 great LMS maps to use with it (smallish FFA style maps, with few hiding places - think duel_temple)

 

If you want to see the code then give me a shout (#jk2coding @ quakenet) as I have no plans to develop it.

 

P.S. has anyone else added a new gametype to JK2? Man - you would think its as simple as adding value to an array, but no. Q3A is full of implicit assumption regarding the order of the gametypes, eg, lots of code like:

 

if (gametype >= GT_TFFA)

 

which basically means "isTeamGame()". But if you add a new gametype after GT_TFFA so as not to disturb the order of existing gametypes, these checks will assume your gametype is a team game. I had to modify the whole source to say:

 

if (gametype >= GT_TFFA && gametype !=GT_LMS)

 

in like 1000 places. If the developers had bothered to make a "qbool isTeamGame(int gametype)" function, then it could have ben fixed in 1 line of code.

 

Just a small bitch about poor code quality in Q3A (which is partly why i gave up with that mod).

 

T

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Trimbo,

 

Weeheey! :)

 

Thanks for replying dude. I'd love to 'have a butchers' at your code!

 

What is #jk2coding @ quakenet an address for?

(Sorry if that's obvious to most people. I mainly use ICQ really - the numbers in my profile)

 

Yeah - that (gametype >= GT_FFA) stuff is fairly nasty! After looking at all those different checks I prompty decided I'd just mod the whole game system rather than try and add a new gametype. Lifes too short ya know..!! ;)

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Well Trimbo, hopefully I can get in contact with you soon...

 

In the meantime, even though their are a few bugs still to fix, I think the game is currently in a state where beta testing can be done. Since I've added some new, fairly different classes and altered the basic gameplay quite a bit, I think this is going to need quite a bit of playtesting to get the balancing right.

 

So I'm asking for beta testers if they want to gametest an early version of my new mod. A single, organised clan would be ideal. I could probably see this taking maybe 2 solid weekends of game-testing - this weekend and then the next after that. Any evenings inbetween that could be squeezed in too would be good :)

 

At the moment, their is no objective stuff in yet - although that is FIRST priority for the next version. What I aim to do with this version is get the class balance as good as possible and then build on top of that. And the best way to get the classes balanced is to get the game out there and played.

 

Just to give you an idea of what the mod is all about and what gameplay features are included:

 

LMS (obviously)

-------------------

Games are broken up into rounds. If you die in a round, you spectate until the next round begins. (Well, most classes do anyway - see below...)

 

New blaster system

-------------------------

Blasters (the standard weapon in this mod) now has a seperate charge-clip seperate from the main ammo store. When firing, energy is drained from the charge-clip, which in turn is slowly re-charged from the main ammo store.

This is to achieve 2 things. First, to encourage less constant 'strafe-and-shoot' play, since if you keep your finger down on the fire button constantly, your going to run out of energy in your charge-clip. It is now more advisable to attack in bursts behind some cover and let your charge-clip recharge before engaging again.

This in turn creates more movie-like battle scenes. (You don't see characters in the movies using blasters that fire constantly like machine guns!! Usually the gunfire is much more singular and controlled)

 

No pickable items

----------------------

The only stuff you have to use is a set ordinance you are given at the beginning of each round, as determined by your class. (As I continue working on this mod, I plan to introduce character progression over rounds, but for now it's fixed ordinance)

 

Classes

----------

Currently, there are 4 main classes:

 

* Jedi.

No weapon except lightsaber. Force powers have been tweaked in many ways to enhance game balance.

(I'm gonna wait for at least the first round of play-testing before I give out any more details on force powers...)

Saber throw is out. In it's place, the right mouse button is now used for Saber Defense. When held down, the Jedi takes on a defensive stance which increases his chances of defending both saber attacks and enemy fire. Also, if held down in the middle of a saber swing, the swing can be brought back to the ready position mid-swing. (i.e. if you spot an attack coming just after you've swung).

However, going into defensive mode means you can only move at walking pace, which means you have to use it tactically.

 

* Soldier.

Relatively weak health, weak armour and limited weapon selection, but have 3 extra re-spawns (reinforcements) per round. i.e. weak individually but strong in numbers.

 

* Mandalorian. (i.e. Boba and Jango Fett)

Full health and armour. Jetpack. (Now duel emmision). Bigger variety of weapons than other classes. More cool stuff will be added too. (Hopefully with the co-operation of other modders :) )

 

* Hero.

This class represents those characters who can, for example, run into the middle of a death star full of stormtroopers with no armour and average weapons and manage to come out of it alive!!

How do they do it? Who knows! Because their hero's!!

I won't reveal how I'm handling this class just yet, because out of the existing four, it's the most likely to need serious tweaking once play-testers has had some time using it. I'll wait till I'm sure it's gonna balance out correctly before I say more.

 

Other classes to come in later versions...

 

Teams

--------

Instead of a blue and red team, they are now 'Rebel' and 'Imperial'.

 

Models

---------

In team games, only appropiate models can be used in the appropiate team. (e.g. Stormtroopers on Imperial, Rebel soldiers on the Rebel team etc. etc.)

Also, only appropiate models can be used for the appropiate class (e.g. Stormtrooper = soldier. Luke = Jedi etc. etc.)

 

Other tweaks:

-------------------------

 

* For Jedi, if defense level is at 3, then a new saber style is unlocked from each basic attacking style you have access to. (So if you have both attack and defense at level 3, you have access to 3 new saber styles).

The new styles are less effective defensively, but more effective offensively. To be specific, attacking moves start at the middle of their swing rather than the start, so that the attacking move is much quicker.

The ready stance for these new styles is with the saber held above the head - similar to Anakin in the end saber-fight scene with Dooko in AOTC.

 

* Saber combat now has short - medium locks in normal combat (i.e. outside of duels, which are disabled in this mod.)

During a lock, as well as pushing the saber back and forth, the players themselves can get pushed back and forth too.

 

* Blaster fire travels fast.

 

* Saber defense against lightning (holding defense down)

 

..and their's a few other things too. But I don't wanna bore you with the details! :)

 

So - any clan leaders who can get a team together to gametest as soon as pos., please get in touch.

 

ICQ: 154718273

Email: renegadeofphunk@3dactionplanet.com

 

Thx,

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  • 2 weeks later...

Woohoo!!

 

I've managed to fix those bugs in my LMS system. It's pretty much working flawlessly now! :)

 

Here's my solution - for anybody who might be interested:

 

After a lot of experimenting, the solution is surprisingly simple! Before you switch the dead player into the spectating team, you just have to store the entity and client info into a temporary store. (2 new arrays in the local_level structure - of size MAX_CLIENTS)

 

Then, just before you spawn them back in at the start of a new round, you copy the entity and client data back!

(It's important you copy both the entity AND the client, because of course the entity structure only keeps a POINTER to the client data...)

 

So there you go! Gotta say, it's a LOT fo fun to play, even if I say so myslef!!

 

I've only got to polish it off a bit over the weekend, and then I'll be ready to beta test. Anybody who wants to be involved in that, please get in touch. (E-mail and ICQ in my details)

 

Again - a quick rundown of the features (More details above):

 

* LMS (Last Man Standing)

* Classes (Jedi, Soldier, Mandalorian, Hero)

* New saber defense feature

* New saber styles

* Charge-clip for blasters (for more movie-like action)

* Proper Rebel / Imperial teams

* Proper models forced for both teams and classes

 

...oh yeah, and I've decided on a firm name for the mod:

 

Movie Battles - because the main aim of this mod is to create games which look like they came from the films.

 

i.e. No shields, no repeaters etc. If it ain't from the films, it ain't in the mod...

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Objectives are DEFINETALY something I plan to add. In fact that's been part of the plan from the start. Whether I use the SAGA game-type or not I'm not sure yet. (I'll have to look into it...)

 

But I think I may get out this first release without it, just so that people can be thrashing out the classes balance. Plus, I'm sure it's gonna take me a good couple of months to get objectives working properly, so I want to give people something they can play till then... :)

 

Getting some good beta test feedback :)

But a few issues to sort...

 

Will try and get this first release out ASAP...

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Here's some images from my latest beta...

 

The new scoreboard... (As you can see, it's me and a load of Bots!!)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/NewScoreboard.JPG

 

The soldier class. (Note the 'Re-spawn' count in the top-left)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/SoldierStart.JPG

 

The hero class.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/StartHero.JPG

 

The Jedi class (in the ready position of the new saber stance - red)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/StartJedi.JPG

 

The Mandalorian class (the force bar now represents jetpack fuel)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/StartMandalorian.JPG

 

Another one of the new ready stance:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/ReadyStanceYellow.JPG

And here's a picture of the 'short' locks that occur during normal non-duel combat (Sticky sabers...)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/ShortLock.JPG

 

You can now throw stormtroopers and officers around, and kill them with one saber swipe - just like in the single player game!!

(But don't get TOO cocky. They'll soon be back - and in greater numbers!)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/ThrowingOfficers.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/ThrowingStormies.JPG

 

Another general combat scene:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hart4/JedivMand.JPG

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