Nali Weapons 3 - Preview 2 (includes Nuclear Explosion)

[Feralidragon]

Now a question aimed specially to MH players/admins:
- What features do you need in NW3 to get rid of UTJMH?
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike UTJMH at all, but in NW2 a special UTJMH config was needed in order to run both the NW2 MH features and UTJMH, otherwise they would collide and not work very well.
So, in NW3 there will be 3 options: not use UTJMH at all and use only the NW3 MH features, or the other way around, or neither of them (for the ones wanting a challenging MH gameplay).

So, afaik, the only features really needed are (all optional from the config):
- Health regeneration
- Ammo regeneration
- Display of monsters health in the HUD (although in NW3 it will be more clean and less "spammy")

Anything else needed?

[Hina'ea Pa'uelo]

From a player standpoint they would ask:

What in the world does this statement even mean?

"What features do you need in NW3 to get rid of UTJMH?
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike UTJMH at all, but in NW2 a special UTJMH config was needed in order to run both the NW2 MH features and UTJMH, otherwise they would collide and not work very well."

You must dumb that down to a very basic level so anyone could possibly hope to understand.

You need to break this down into basics.
What exactly are you making? A new game genre? A new server type? Or are you simply making new weapons mods?

Server owner statement: I have 2200 MH maps in play, many with all-new custom guns made by 50 other people in the time you have taken to perfect yours. You want me to break/render all these maps obsolete with your server mod?

You say UTJMH conflicts with your mod so I need to delete the 50 maps that depend on it?

" Health regeneration Ammo regeneration"
These are "map specific" tweaks what is the problem?
Hud is weapon-specific aiming device also what is problem here?

Will your weapons work on a low-bandwidth server rental?
Or do i need to rent a 5 thousand dollar per month OC-3 line?

My point: 9600 dpi textures and large avi blossom effects will freeze game play to a standstill, have you tested them on let' say a 5 meg line?

Where can I download maps with your weapons mods built -in for test?

My point all new server type? or .. Gun mods you can add to maps the right way?

Trying to be helpful here and get the conversation started.
You need to refine your marketing approach here on what you are hoping to accomplish/sell to the people.

[Feralidragon]

I must admit sometimes I use terms some people do not understand (-> working on it, honestly).
That's why I have taken out the list of features from moddb and only let the weapon list stay along with images and videos.

Anyway, to the point: afaik there are no maps with UTJMH dependency? I mean, afaik (perhaps I may be a bit outdated on this) UTJMH is just a small mutator that adds health regeneration, random prizes over time, regenerating ammo, render monsters health on the screen and a few more neat things.
I remember having to release a custom ini for UTJMH so certain features of it would be disabled so certain similar features of NW2 would work well.

UTJMH doesn't really "break" NW3 itself (nor the other way around), only the NW3 Monsterhunt specific features can (and they are all optional, so if disabled there are no problems either).
Quick example: health.
UTJMH regenerates health to a certain value in its ini.
NW2 and NW3 have something which is called "Modifiers", which are pickups that modify certain weapon properties such as: firerate, damage, ammo, etc.
The health modifier gives the weapon the capacity to heal its owner by shooting himself (through splash damage, like explosions), and this has also a max configurable value.
If both mods max health configuration do not match, you will end up having one of them cutting the amount of health you have in some situations, thus a "buggy" situation.

So, I wanted to go the easy route (easy for the admin) and implement all the needed MH features that would make UTJMH unnecessary for NW3 servers, and thus avoiding any headache afterwards (because it's easier to anyone to just "remove this mod, add this one instead" rather than "if you want this mod feature, you have to disable that one in that one").
Now if UTJMH is absolutely necessary no matter the situation because of some sort of dependency which honestly I am not aware about, then that's perfectly possible, but the configuration of one or another mod will have to be tweaked the same fashion UTJMH server with NW2 are tweaked now.
And when I released NW2 back then and even nowadays some people tell me I should have built all the features in the mod so they hadn't to have UTJMH on for just a few things.

Bottom line: those maps are safe and UTJMH can still be there running, but you would have to choose between NW3 features or UTJMH features, that's all.


As for the mod itself, getting down to the very basics:
- For the average player:
* It's a new weapon pack: 17 weapons (it's what the whole thing is mostly about)
* Nukes
* It brings new pickups (new graphics mostly, like that udamage in the previous page)
* It brings some gameplay features (but I will touch that subject later when I actually release the pack)

- For the admin:
* Good performance in the client (depending on the detail settings, but the mod auto-adjusts itself for best performance while having still the best quality possible)
* Great performance in the server (the pack actually runs faster and consumes less in an online game, since the load is divided between server and client)
* Any server can handle it (it doesn't need to be powerful at all, any server that can run UT "modless", can also run NW3)
* Any client can handle it too (tested in a machine which could only handle the game at 800x600 max), except some nuclear effects (but again, they auto adjust for performance, the thing is, they will just look ugly in weaker machines)
* Gameplay customization
* Clan customization (custom textures for the hands which hold the weapons, custom textures for "chargers")

- For anyone more into development:
* Lots of code (and other resources) to rip and potentially learn or laugh from
* Easy to add new weapons and pickups (bases to do his own "nali weapon" rather easily, although no one will do so most likely)
* Visual features such as: dynamic coronas and lensflares, "earthquake"-like system, wall debris/chunks, nuclear shockwave fx, and more
* Ability to build some NW3 specific mutators (more on that also later)
* Flexibility

- Availability:
* Still not available for usage nor testing. It will be released to public soon and private beta-testing will happen even sooner. All I can provide so far is info, some answers and media in-game (screenshots and videos already released, see first post, or see moddb page here: http://www.moddb.com/mods/nali-weapons-3), and the current ini files for a small grasp on the potential possible settings (in this topic: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=4173).


My "marketing approach" is showing periodic screenshots and not so periodic videos of in-game content being developed, as media worth a thousand words (or so they say), while still not spoiling all of it (specially the things many players want to see the most). Worked so far for 2 years already... not on purpose though of course (the original time frame I set to finish the pack when I started was 6 months, and used 4x that time due to my real life job which took more of my time than I thought).
But hey, didn't quit the project and I am going to finish it within the next few weeks.

[Hina'ea Pa'uelo]

Very nice that will help anyone with the plethora of stupid question you know will follow.

[Dr.Flay]

I think Captains Hook and Hermskii are likely to be able to answer your questions Ferali, as they do like to kill them monsters with a big bang

[Feralidragon]

@Hina'ea Pa'uelo: Thanks for your honest input.

@Dr.Flay: Perhaps. I know there are plenty of MH players and admins, registered both here and at another places I asked this up (unrealadmin and moddb). So far only got 2 replies reminding me of the same thing for MH (and not exactly from the admins I expected to hear from): the NW2 random reward system (which I was actually forgetting and added to my todo list in the MH features).
Having that said, all those players and admins are registered and visit more or less often at least one of the forums, so if they want to provide feedback, cool, if not, that list over there is all I am going to do.
Let's just hope that when I release the mod MH players and admins do not complain about something missing.

[papercoffee]

Let's just hope that when I release the mod MH players and admins do not complain about something missing.

You betcha! they will do...

[Feralidragon]

Well, anyway, decisions are made and I am going through with them towards release.

I also discarded some features from my todo list and will focus in just what's needed to release this thing once and for all.

Code: Select all

* Pickups: armor, thigh pads, jump boots, SCUBA gear, flash light
* Menus
* Add ZP/lag compensation to hitscan
* MH features: health regen, ammo regen, monsters names + health on screen, monsters/teammates simple radar, MH rewards system (NW2-like)
* Add some flexibility and support for future content (bonus packs, mutators and the like)
* Documentation
* Beta-testing
* Release, with media (release video + new updated logo + a few images)


That list is all there's left to finish it as of now.
After those, release.

[iloveut99]

@Dr.Flay: Perhaps. I know there are plenty of MH players and admins, registered both here and at another places I asked this up (unrealadmin and moddb). So far only got 2 replies reminding me of the same thing for MH (and not exactly from the admins I expected to hear from): the NW2 random reward system (which I was actually forgetting and added to my todo list in the MH features).

Ferali have you tried ask at MH bigger community forums?

[Feralidragon]

Not really. Mostly because I wanted a central talk on this without having to visit tons of forums, and since many MH admins (and some players) are on unrealadmin.
The only MH admin I will talk with directly is KB, because this guy I know does not hang often in other forums.

Anyway, it's not that important, it was even an opportunity for MH admins to even ask new features they may wish together with the pack, but I guess it's better this way, as I will be able to release this thing sooner with less things to do.

[Feralidragon]

Well, guys, the GUI to tweak the settings is almost finished (I am just adding the settings themselves to a dynamic system of menus, much easier and quicker to setup and manage, and has a few features the average players may enjoy while setting things up, like saving a custom settings profile).

So, before I advance with the ZP support later this week (hopefully), I wanted you guys to answer a few questions:
1 - Do you like ZP?
2 - Why?
3 - What would you like to see improved in ZP to either start using it or to fix something already ongoing in the current versions?

For who doesn't know what ZP is, it stands for ZeroPing and is used in many servers for enforcer, shockrifle and sniper in a attempt to fight the ping issues with hitscan weapons.
I hope this time I get some answers so I can do a proper job rather than do it all my own in a perhaps not so better way.

[Sp0ngeb0b]

I personally never played ZP and never had a real reason to try it. I'm just used to the normal gameplay, ping usually doesn't matter, although I have to admit I mostly play on servers I have a good connection to

Besides that, from what I heard from the community, there's a huge request for it (it can be questioned if it's really a thoughtful opinion by the 'normal' players), especially for InstaGib.

[GEx]

Same as Sp0ngeb0b.
Although, I barely play online (super slow connection).

[UT Sniper (SJA94)]

I dislike zp, bugs.
Put zp in the bin, newnet is much better.
http://www.globalunreal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=309

[Feralidragon]

Thanks for your input guys.
Of course, is always preferable to play in servers with a good ping.

@UT Sniper (SJA94): I think you're misunderstanding. I won't grab ZP and put it in NW3, no at all, if that's what you're thinking. I am going to do a new system which is like a mix of ZP and lag compensation, whereas ZP is just to correct the server value within a certain tolerance dictated by the server itself for best online experience.
The problem with ZP afaik is that it cannot shoot what's not in the client and is highly insecure and "cheatable" afaik, and by having the server decide the final hit that gets fixed along as being by far much more secure.
Now, you said ZP is buggy, and that's exactly what I want to know: which bugs?
I know a couple of them, but I want to hear the players input in what they feel bugged or plain wrong at gameplay level so I can test those sort of things out.