[Maps + Mutators] Consistancy Issues?

D

discuit

Veteran X
I have been reading all the posts lately about mutators, modifications to maps etc, and just had one question. Will there ever be consistancy in Tribes again across most servers? and if not will this be a problem? If so how can it be rectified?

What im talking about is stuff like "degrapple" (which i love btw) and the server variable damage to dislodge it, the map pack and it's adjustments to generator damage, sensor damage etc etc. All these variables are very subjective, which means that some people arent going to agree on many of them. :(

We could, as players, thus conceivably go from one server where gens take 2 mortars to kill and grapples cant' be killed, to one that the gens (on the same map) take 3, grapples have 40 damage to kill (as the server admin thinks this is better than the standard 25) and so on and so on. :(

Now i know this isnt a really big problem but unless im mistaken couldn't this cause some confusion among newer players, hell even among older ones too?

Sp yeh, can someone with a clue on this subject tell me if there will be a way to rectify this? or if it wont really be a problem anyway, why not?

Thanks in advance.
 
This was already a problem with the Unreal setup. They allude to it in their development wiki. This is particularly a problem when mutators conflict with each others code base and cause hard to find errors.

I think the solution from a player point of a view for the "different" servers is to have mini banners that server owners put up when their server is supporting "X" Mutator.

For instance, if Mofo's server is running Compmod Mutator and SlowVehicles mutator, in the server join/intro graphic, there could be two banners that display that info to the player, so he'd know wtf is happening when his pod goes 1 meter/4 seconds.

Besides that I can't think of any other way to organize it. Remember, mutators are designed so that every server owner has the power to customize the game they want. While that shouldn't be hindered, there should be a way to let the player know that something has been changed.
 
That's the reason I have sworn off any changing of variables on any of my maps. I have a hard time swallowing the changes being made to the map pack, but am not totally opposed due to the name changes.

Being able to tweak such variables is a powerful tool, but it's one that should be used sparingly.
 
Cinderkarst said:
That's the reason I have sworn off any changing of variables on any of my maps. I have a hard time swallowing the changes being made to the map pack, but am not totally opposed due to the name changes.

Being able to tweak such variables is a powerful tool, but it's one that should be used sparingly.
Click to expand...
With great power comes great responsibility, eh?



Btw, it would be really nice if IG made the default font for server MOTD's larger and easier to read, and added a feature that displayed a message on modded servers a la T1. *hint hint*
 
discuit said:
"degrapple" (which i love btw)
Click to expand...
<3
discuit said:
I have been reading all the posts lately about mutators, modifications to maps etc, and just had one question. Will there ever be consistancy in Tribes again across most servers? and if not will this be a problem? If so how can it be rectified?
Click to expand...

You are protected from the server jsut randomly changing the map's content. TV uses the hash system, which will not allow you to join a server that has a map of the same name but of different content. This does not protect you from mutators or other modifications.

discuit said:
What im talking about is stuff like "degrapple" (which i love btw) and the server variable damage to dislodge it, the map pack and it's adjustments to generator damage, sensor damage etc etc. All these variables are very subjective, which means that some people arent going to agree on many of them. :(

We could, as players, thus conceivably go from one server where gens take 2 mortars to kill and grapples cant' be killed, to one that the gens (on the same map) take 3, grapples have 40 damage to kill (as the server admin thinks this is better than the standard 25) and so on and so on. :(

Now i know this isnt a really big problem but unless im mistaken couldn't this cause some confusion among newer players, hell even among older ones too?

Sp yeh, can someone with a clue on this subject tell me if there will be a way to rectify this? or if it wont really be a problem anyway, why not?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

The changes cross each server is a major problem. Go play 10 servers on UTk2k4, you may find 2 that are the same. TV currently has no real solution to this, and probably wont recieve one. The power is held by the servers in Unreal, its their (epic's) basis for stopping cheaters.

The method used by the T2 devs was great as it warned the users. It possible that our competition systems will need to find a unifed way to do this.
 
Cinderkarst said:
That's the reason I have sworn off any changing of variables on any of my maps. I have a hard time swallowing the changes being made to the map pack, but am not totally opposed due to the name changes.

Being able to tweak such variables is a powerful tool, but it's one that should be used sparingly.
Click to expand...

TV (and unreal) are mapper centric, unlike t2/t1 were coder centric. This gives almost all the power to the mappers to change the maps to create the world as needed. Yes, this is a very dangerous tool but is very nice on the other hand. The general protections from hashing helps against people changing a map and then calling it default map. The new maps that come out always need to be tested by 3rd parties. I know giess and his panel are working on this.
 
I got an error msg when trying to join KGB's server it said that there was some conflict with a file in my cache folder, and it suggested a reinstall. I however being the supergenius that I am just deleted the file, which was a compressed version of Degrapple, and everything was fine.
 
BFGanksta said:
I got an error msg when trying to join KGB's server it said that there was some conflict with a file in my cache folder, and it suggested a reinstall. I however being the supergenius that I am just deleted the file, which was a compressed version of Degrapple, and everything was fine.
Click to expand...

TV has a cache bug which will corrupt files. Use search for more info on it.
 
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