proposed changes to Magic Redeemer, Alpha 03.

although some of you have said that you liked the current version of the mutator (alpha 03), I played on SRA2 and I am rather disappointed with the online multiplayer gameplay. I feel that it works well in singleplayer mode, but a few things are different in online multiplayer. my biggest gripe is that in online multiplayer, exploding a guided missile does not return you to your normal view as fast as when in singleplayer mode. here are my proposed changes:

1) fix fast return to normal view in online multiplayer

for this, I'm planning to further shorten the time to get to "RelinquishController()". the side effect of this is that you will get a primary fire event and you will have fired an unguided missile as you return back to normal view. this side effect is addressed next..

2) after shortening the time to get to "RelinquishController()", you'll get a primary fire missile

for this, I'm planning to lengthen the time between primary fires. what this means, unfortunately, is that you won't be able to spread fire as fast as it is now. I will try and balance (1) and (2). alpha 03 favors spreaders more than guiders. this may also fix the problem where your guided missile was destroyed by another blast and you clicked primary fire a split second after that, which causes you to unintentionally fire an unguided missile and kills yourself as a result. I also noticed a "problem" where there seems to be a greater chance than in classic ut that you'll spawn at the same spot where you just died.

3) reduce the "world shake" effect

the world does shake in classic ut, so I probably won't take it out completely in ut2003.

4) "tunnel vision"

enough said. this may require some research.

5) more details in death messages

as it is now (just like in the regular redeemer), the death message will just say so-and-so was pulverized. I'm planning to put in more descriptive death messages so you'll know if you've just killed yourself or someone else got you. currently, it feels like everything flows together and I'm having a hard time telling if I've just lost a frag or someone else just gained a frag. any suggestions to the death messages? the funnier the better..

- clemmentine

sounds good to me clem.. when you're ready let us know and we'll crank it up on the servers.

Clemmentine,

I blew myself up a couple of times that way. It takes way too long to get the normal view back. Those are all valid points.

N6

Awesome CLem. These were all concerns, but I felt we nitpicked you enough for the alpha2 version.

Yes the thing about guiding in 2k3 is that right before you missile explodes, the game gives you a view of the place where the detonation takes place, as if you were positioned there. And then it returns you to your location.

Personally, I think the frequency with which you can fire off spreads in 2k3 right now is perfect in your current version.

We are all eagerly anticipating the next release!!!

Great job,

I hope the tunnel vision won't be too much of a hassle. I think it and the Grand Wazoo explosion were the two big killers the whole time. I'm anxious to give whatever you do another run as soon as you're ready. Is there a way to automatically kick all the good players as soon as i log in to a game? Just the good players though. I need to be able to beat up on somebody! Kepp it up Clem! You rule!

Clem, You are like me, your own worst critic. :wink:

Instead of giving suggestions, I want to ask you how you find all of these things. I opened the mods in notepad, and can see some of the stuff you are tweaking, but not all. Do you need a special program to see the special text characters, or are they code that I have no idea about? I can not find a numerical value for the speed of a guided deemer.

Also, do you think the speed at which the view changes from guided-explosion-normal view online has something to do with ping? I noticed it, but I did not hear anyone with broadband say anything about it. You and I are both 56k warriors, so maybe it is just us.

As for death message suggestions.... Our resident comics should handle that one, but any message that has the redeemer being inserted or surgically removed would be funny, if not painful :lol:

OK for suicides, how about:

"Jarg just sat on his own redeemer and farted."

For deaths:

"You just ate a redeemer sandwich."
"X just gave you a nuclear prostate exam." [this one is gender-specific]
"X just welcomed you to Chernobyl. Have a nice day."

This one is for those of you who remember Schwantz's gerbil joke:
"Armageddon! Armageddon!!!"

For kills:
"You just vaporized X."

What precisely is the format for these death messages and do they only apply to one's own death?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :badgrin: :badgrin: :badgrin: :badgrin:

Mahatma wrote:

I did not know my web cam was on...
:oops: :mrgreen: :shock: :roll: :lol: 8)

nitpicked? no, alpha 03 was planned for from the beginning. at this point, it looks like there is a good chance that there is going to be versions 04 and 05. I know that the primary fire rate is good in 03, but that's at the expense of the guiders. I think it's better to have the game balanced between the spreaders and guiders.

a first attempt last night at removing tunnel vision did not work. not to worry, there will be more attempts. auto kicking good players, unfortunately, will have to be a separate mod..

ahh.. the almighty notepad.. no, you don't open the .u file with notepad. you don't open the .u file at all. the .u file is generated by the compiler from .uc files. the way I've written this mutator is the following (there are better ways to do this):

1) download the latest source .uc files from unreal.epicgames.com (usually about a meg)
2) look in the downloaded zip for "interesting" .uc files (e.g. ones with the word "Redeemer" in it)
3) open up those "interesting" files and see if they have anything that you want to tinker with (e.g. AirSpeed = 1000)
4) create a new .uc file (I use notepad) and subclass the "interesting" class you just found ("clemRedeemerWarhead extends RedeemerWarhead")
5) override whatever settings you feel like and put them in the new .uc file
6) save the new .uc file in something like \ut2003\MagicRedeemer\Classes\clemRedeemerWarhead.uc (that's the guided redeemer missile, by the way)
7) go to \ut2003\system and delete the existing MagicRedeemer.u file and do a "ucc make". that will build a new MagicRedeemer.u file
8) load up the game and test

these steps are derived from the information on unreal.epicgames.com . look there if you want more info.

how quickly it returns to normal view doesn't seem to depend on ping as Kidcapri and N6NU both noted that problem and they're both on broadband. I suppose the reason for the difference in behavior (between singleplayer and online multiplayer) is due to the networked environment in multiplayer.

keep the funny death messages coming! these messages are the ones that appear on the left side of the screen. any text will do.

- clemmentine

no time for ut tonight; too many things I want to play with in the mutator..

update.

Hermskii will be happy to see this.. found the piece of code that draws the "tunnel vision" last night, so now I'm looking at putting a crosshair over a clear view.. :)

I could not recreate the delayed return problem even when I join a server running on my own machine. what this means is that there is no way for me to test on my own machine to see if my changes fixed the problem. the only place to test is to have the mutator running on a server out there. so it'll probably take more than one attempt to get this problem fixed. :(

death messages. 3 kinds (these are just examples):

regular: "X just welcomed Y to Chernobyl. Have a nice day."
male suicide: "X yelled: Bloody murder! Armageddon! Armageddon!!! The end is here!"
female suicide: "X was heard saying: I'm sorry, did I just ate your redeemer sandwich?"

- clemmentine

I can't decide.. should I play ut tonight or work on the mutator?

AWESOME CLEM!

Play UT tonight! Work on mutator early Sunday morning!

Can't wait to try it out!