T:V Tweak Guide

B

Big Monkey

Veteran XV
I made this on my own forums and figured 1) it couldn't hurt to post it here too, and 2) maybe someone will post more stuff to help out. All of this stuff came from threads here, so thanks for the original authors for posting them.

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I will post all of the tweaks I have done to my T:V beta.

There are not many, but I will update this thread as I go and also once the full game is released.

1) Binding a key for your console.

There are two steps to this. One is simply enabling the function, and the second to rebind a key.

Step 1: In your shortcut properties to start the game, add "-console" to the target.

It should look like this before:

Code: 
"C:\Program Files\VUGames\Tribes Vengeance Beta\Program\Bin\tribesv_mpbeta_en.exe"

and like this after:

Code: 
"C:\Program Files\VUGames\Tribes Vengeance Beta\Program\Bin\tribesv_mpbeta_en.exe" -console

The path will be a bit different if you installed to a different directory of course.

Once you do this, then you can start T:V and your default console key will be TAB. Press tab, and a thin black field will appear across the bottom of your T:V screen as shown below.

Console.jpg


Hit escape to get rid of the console command line.

Step 2: Let's rebind your console key.

I personally don't like it bound to TAB because I use tab for something else, and most console keys are bound to tilde. Tilde is your ` key, next to the one, and above tab.

To do this, go in to Program/Bin folder and find your Default.ini file.

You will have to get the properties for that file, and uncheck "Read Only" so that you can edit it. Once you close that for editing, then search(ctl-f) for the following lines:

Code: 
[Engine.Console]
ConsoleKey=9

Change the value 9 to 192 to make it look like this:

Code: 
[Engine.Console]
ConsoleKey=192

Then save changes, close the file, make it read only again and you are done. Now you can start T:V and access the console with the tilde key instead of TAB.

2) Improving FPS tweaks.

These has not been proven, but it certainly didn't hurt me in any way.

Tweak One: Go back to the Default.ini file and open for editing. Find the following lines:

Code: 
[Engine.GameEngine]
CacheSizeMegs=32

Change the size of the cache to something larger up to 512. According to other users, it is not wise to go above 512. Mine looks like this now:

Code: 
[Engine.GameEngine]
CacheSizeMegs=512

Once you're done then save the settings and close the file and make it Read Only again just as before.

Tweak Two: Go back to the Default.ini file and open for editing. Find the following lines:

Code: 
[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
UseTrilinear=True

Change True to False, and then close the file after saving changes.

Tweak Three: In the Default.ini, find the following lines:

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
Use16bit=False
Use16bitTextures=False

Change both of the False to True, and your game will use 16-bit textures instead of 32-bit, and hopefully give you a small boost.

There are actually a lot of tweaks that can be done and there has already been a write-up done here. Go through it and see what works best for you. Thanks to Mapson for linking the thread.

3) In game HUDs

The in game HUDs are OK, but a guy named MonkeyHero made another one which resembles T2 and I like it better than default. There were a few modifications I made to the file thanks to jotun which enhance the HUD overall IMO. I am sure some other people will come up with ones that will be nice as well, and I will update as I go.

Here is a screenshot of how the new one looks in game.

16874549


Here is the file if you want to install it:

Monkey Hero's HUD

Unzip, and place the file in your Content/System directory.

Make sure and back up your old file before you replace it with this one.

Here are some more huds by jotun, click on the pics for a bigger screenshot:



Download the file here: jotun's huds

Here is another one made by triQ

ss_hud.jpg


Download triQ's here

Here is a config made by LittleWing:

LWConfig.jpg


Little Wing's Config

Config made by StormMage:

hud.jpg


Download the .rar file here

Strega came through with this hud:

stregatvhud04.jpg


Download it right here

4) Some console commands

Code: 
FOV #

Make the # to whatever FOV you want. for example FOV 90 or FOV 120. If you want to make a permanent change for FOV, go into your Default.ini and find

FovAngleDegrees=

and put whatever FOV you want after the = , for example:

FovAngleDegrees=90

Code: 
stat fps
shows you the fps you are getting (and average)

Code: 
stat shot
takes a screenshot of your stats

Code: 
stat all
shows all stats (kills performance)

Code: 
renderdetail x
(where x = 0,1,2 or 3), highest setting 3 lowest 0 will affect performance quite dramatically

Code: 
suicide
(dur) kills you

Code: 
stat net
shows your real ping (f2 menu lies)

Code: 
stat none
removes all stats on screen

Code: 
voteyes

Code: 
voteno

Here are some commands if you are an admin on a server.

Log out to log in as another user
Code: 
adminlogout

Login
Code: 
adminlogin Name Password

Kick somebody
Code: 
admin kick PlayerName

Ban somebody
Code: 
admin ban PlayerName

5) Connection settings

Unless you are actually at a LAN or get sub 50 pings to the servers you intend to play on, do NOT set your connection level at LAN. Drop it down to CABLE/DSL

Also uncheck the "Adjust Connection Speed While Playing" box.

6) Server Filters

OK I played around with the server filters and figured out how to make them using the ServerFilters.ini file provided by KinteicPoet.

I've made a file that you can download and use right away if you don't care to learn. The file contains the default filters plus 5 of my own which filter out empty servers, locked servers, and each one sorts by game type. That way if you wanted to find a CTF server that is not locked and had at least one person in it, you can use these filters for that purpose. Same goes for the other game types. Download the file below:

Big Monkey's Server Filters

To install, just unzip the file and place it in your Program/Bin directory and start T:V.

For those who want to make your own filters, here are some tips. You can also read the official Server Filter guide from Thrax of T:V Dev Team fame here

The first part of the filter is the filter's name.

Code: 
filterList=(filterName="filter's name here"

You can name it whatever you want, just don't go crazy because it will cut off in game if it is too long.

After the name, you enter your conditions in the querystring

Code: 
,queryString="conditions")

The end should look like this

Code: 
filterList=(filterName="filter's name here",queryString="conditions")

with the filter name and conditions being real ones of course.

If you want to specify more than one condition, then you have to seperate them by the word "and". The filter would then look like this.

Code: 
filterList=(filterName="filter's name here",queryString="condition one and condition two and condition three")

Here is a sample filter for reference.

Code: 
filterList=(filterName="CTF/NoLock/NoEmpty",queryString="numplayers > 0 and gametype = 'CTF' and password = 'false'")

Here are some of the conditions you can specify:

password = 'true' Shows only servers that are passworded
password = 'false' Shows only servers that are NOT passworded
numplayers < maxplayers Shows servers that have spots available to join and are not at maximum capacity
numplayers >= # Shows servers with players greater than or equal the number you specify
numplayers <= # Shows servers with players less than or equal to the number you specify
gametype = 'CTF'
gametype = 'ARENA'
gametype = 'BALL'
gametype = 'FUEL'
gametype = 'RABBIT'​

There are other filters to sort by server name and map being played, but I won't bother with those since the game is so new.

7) Voice Chat Menus

Before we begin, some players are apparently having issues with the voice menu not staying on the screen unless they hold a button down.

Jodofett has found a fix for this so you don't have to deal with that anymore.

Open your User.ini file in your Programs/Bin directory, and find where your chat key is bound. Most people use V. So once you search your User.ini, you would clt-f and enter "V="

To make your chat menu stick without holding the V key, change it to look like this.

Code: 
V=ToggleQuickChat

Then simply close your file and you're done.

Now, for those die hard fans who miss the old ways of spamming with T1 and T2 style binds, RegisteredFruit and Vicelord have come to your rescue!

Check out how these look in game, first the T1 style chat:

T1vchatinTV.jpg


Be sure and view the ReadMe.txt included so you won't mess up your current install!

RegisteredFruit's T1 Style Voice Chat Menu

Now the T2 style chat:

VicelordT2vchat.jpg


This one also has an important ReadMe.txt to go over before you install.

Vicelord's T2 Style Voice Chat Menu

8) Hosting your own dedicated Server

In case anyone wants to host a dedicated server, I have made a small .zip of what you will need to do so. A ReadMe is included, so you should be good to go!

Server Admin Files

There also have been a couple of web stat thingies made in case you want to feature a server query window on your webpage.

Tribes Vengeance Server Query is a PHP class which is able to read the live status from a Tribes Vengeance (c) (Sierra) Server via PHP sockets without the need of any additional tool or script like qstat
Click to expand...

Littlex made this one described above.

There is also another one made by Yogi that is nice.

Find it here.

9) Communications

TeamSpeak 2

Gouge, kno44, and Lucasio44 have been donating a free TS2 server for some time. If you want to join up to chat during T:V play or just hang out, feel free...there is no join pass for the main channel.

IP: 69.93.78.162
Port: 8750​


If you would like to request your own channel, PM Gouge, kno44, Lucasio44, or BigMonkey in #treehouse in Dynamix IRC. It has 100 player capacity.

Download the Win32 client if you need it here.



Ventrillo

Narotic said:
Team Triple Threat has a Ventrilo server up for 60 persons! We're opening it up to the public for people to chat or pub t:v. The server is sponsored by TheGameServer.com. Check us out at http://www.3xthreat.com. T:V pub server to come ...

Ventrilo ip: 66.235.185.128 port:9988
Click to expand...

Visit the Ventrillo download page to get their client.
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Welp, that's all I have for now. Will update as I go and bump here.
 
Last edited:
Mapson said:
Thanks :)

Theres some other settings that might help you gain a few more FPS at http://ucguides.savagehelp.com/TribesVengeance/FPSVisuals.htm
Click to expand...

UseTripleBuffering Controls video frame buffering, by default the game will use two buffers; one displayed while another is being updated. With triple buffering enabled three buffers are available which can help FPS when VSync is enabled. Defaults to false.

Set to true to enable triple buffering
Set to true to disable triple buffering

I think that the last statement should be false?


Thanks for these tweaks guys!
 
How does this thread tweak anything...I lost 12 fps just reading it.
Id post my tweaks, but then everyone would be 1337
 
couple things I did to my HUD... (TribesHUD.ini)

Code: 
[default_EquipmentQuantityLabel]
textFont=font'Engine_res.Res_DefaultFont'
bUseResFonts=true
textColor=(B=50,G=255,R=50,A=255)
justification=ALIGN_Right
PosX=52
PosY=28
Width=30
Height=18
that should make the ammo count on your weapons larger and green, so it's easier to see

if you want a bigger radar, change the height and width under [default_radarContainer] and [default_radar]. you can also go to user.ini and change the radarzoomlevels to what you want. Levels of 0.7 or higher will replace the full icons with just dots

couple of bugs in monkey's hud that you can fix... the thing for the energy blade is still there and you can see the F of "INF" on the second weapon. to properly remove the HUD for it, add this under [default_weaponContainer]
Code: 
[default_FallbackWeapon]
emptyTexture=(drawColor=(R=255,G=255,B=255,A=255), style=0)
fullTexture=(drawColor=(R=255,G=255,B=255,A=255), style=0)
selectedMaterial=(style=0)
bDrawKey=false
bDrawQuantity=false
horizontalAlignment=HALIGN_Left
verticalAlignment=VALIGN_Bottom
Width=80
Height=40
offsetY=-45
offsetX=5

also, under [default_PersonalScores] change the -200 to just 200 to get the personal scores to show up
 
Last edited:
jotun said:
lots of goodies
Click to expand...


Very nice jotun, thanks guy!. I modified Monkey Hero's HUD and fixed the link in the first post to reflect all of those changes, except I didn't mess with the radar. Good stuff!
 
Last edited:
Make sure after changing the Default.ini file you delete the tribesv_mpbeta_en.ini or else none of the changes to the Default.ini will do anything. Or if you want you can just make the changes to the tribesv_mpbeta_en.ini and not the Default.ini file which I would recommend just incase something goes wrong you have a backup.
 
Vyrticl said:
Make sure after changing the Default.ini file you delete the tribesv_mpbeta_en.ini or else none of the changes to the Default.ini will do anything. Or if you want you can just make the changes to the tribesv_mpbeta_en.ini and not the Default.ini file which I would recommend just incase something goes wrong you have a backup.
Click to expand...

Ya the tribesv_mpbeta_en.ini gets rebuilt using the Default.ini instructions. I dunno if it actually ignores the Default though...

When I first tried to change my console rebind, I did it through the mbbeta file and it didn't work. Then I put it in the default.ini file and then it worked fine. Not sure what happened there. I can say however that if you make the changes in Defaut.ini and delete the mpbeta, any changes should definatelyl work.
 
I updated my hud dealie a little. The vehicle and turret weapon icons are now more properly placed. Also the team names are changed to green and red because the colors make it pretty.

Thar she blows.
 
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