Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => Multiplayer => Blue Planet Multi => Topic started by: bigchunk1 on February 12, 2011, 03:30:45 am
-
The test has concluded, thanks to everyone who participated.
For all of you who missed the first one and all those who would like to give it another go. The WIH multiplayer project is going to have another test in the near future.
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1200-43-54-49.jpg)
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1201-29-23-04.jpg)
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1201-54-24-21.jpg)
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1201-54-55-68.jpg)
The multiplayer pack already has dogfights, TvT missions, and a virtually complete coop mission. We are also experimenting with player controlled capitol ships in both TvT missions and coop missions.
A few new game modes have been implemented, such as Escalation dogfight where players upgrade to a more powerful ship every time they are killed, and Fleet Battle where players can command capitol ships and call in and direct fighter reinforcements to harass the opposing team. (Experimental!)
Last test went really well with 10 or so members participating in a single game. We would like to see that kind of turnout again. Players who can host multiplayer games are extra welcome!!!
Once again, the time and date of this next test will be determined by a consensus between the interested players. If you are interested in participating in Test #2, send me a PM or simply reply to this thread. Just like last time I will update this post with a list of people who would like to participate in the test. Once enough players have joined up, we will pick a time.
Might make it
Planning on coming
Testers:
Driod803
-Sara-
Archaic
Mars
Deadly in a Shadow
Buckshee Rounds
Sparda Son 21
FSW
SDM
Edit: It is highly likely we will be using build 6832 for testing. It's the most recent multiplayer compatible build.
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,73203.0.html
Be sure to have 6832r (non-debug) if you don't already.
-
What version of FSO should one be rolling for this?
-
Most likely the build of choice will be 3.6.12r
Less likely, If we go with nightlies, I believe 6832r is still the most recent multiplayer compatible build.
-
I will attempt to join you, if that's alright.
Sunday after will not work for me, after 100 GMT
I am unsure of the rest of the week.
-
I'll be there, for those who usually ask: ingame name is Kinky.
-
i'll try to be there, but i have lots to do this weekend.
spring break is the week after next though, i should have some time then.
-
Most likely the build of choice will be 3.6.12r
No no no no. The last time we tried playing with the 3.6.12 build, we crashed. So definitely go with the nightly.
-
There is a confirmed-good (last I knew) build in SVN, just use that.
-
Count me in if its this weekend or next :D
YAY for reading break = no uni.
I'm not very good at dogfighting though :<
I get thrashed in TvT, especially.
-
...I'm not very good at dogfighting though :<
I get thrashed in TvT, especially.
No worries, I'm not that great either. Players of all skill levels will give us a wider range of information for testing.
-
Sign me in, I want my revenge. But I hope that the RRRREDEMAHHHH is balanced.
(Remember the frigate battle in multi test 1?^^)
-
Few pointers:
* Install BP Multi on your PC before the event. Make sure to check if your BP Multi is updated 15 minutes before start, last minute files may be updated.
* BP Multi now uses a SVN to install the mod on your PC, no longer a simple download link, this allows for easier updating but requires some less conventional ways to install for the user. Check http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,73966.0.html to see how you use SVN's to install programs.
* Shut down any internet-using program you have other than freespace. No Torents, no P2P, no games using internet in the background: this will not only reduce your lag, but the suffering others do from your otherwise slowed down internet.
* Be there on time once a time is agreed on. Freespace needs the game host to shut down the mission through exiting if new players want to join the game, not convenient.
* If the game is busy, don't try to join the game a 100 times while it is already busy, like some people did last time. Just wait until the game-status is green and says forming. If you try to join again and again while the game already tells you that you cannot join, we all see that message too and the host may feel presured to break off the entire game. Wait your turn, last time we played plenty of rounds. :)
-
So, when will this be? :P
-
No such date is announced yet. Depends on the tyrrany of the majority. When do YOU want it?
From what I'm hearing, sometime next weekend works. That would be the 18th 19th or 20th of February.
-
The sooner the better for me.
I have this week off but not next week.
-
Does anyone mind if I shpw up? I have a decent(ish) connection and I'm more curious than anything else to see how things are coming along.
-
More WiH multi. Count me in.
-
PMs sent
Please note, the Origional Post has been updated.
-
Test time and date has been announced. See origional post.
-
Hey there I just registered, as you can see, I would like to participate in that test as well but I got some questions.
First and foremost, its free for everyone so its okay for a lurker to join right?
Second, since i could not see something along those lines in here : will some kind of voip be needed? If so what kind.
Thirdly i just want to say that i loved playing BP. AoA was nice but i really fell in love with WiH :).
Thanks and hopefully till the 19th.
-
You can definitely join in. Might want to log on to IRC (there's a link from the forum index) to make sure you're all set up and have an FS2NetD account and such.
-
Hey there I just registered, as you can see, I would like to participate in that test as well but I got some questions.
First and foremost, its free for everyone so its okay for a lurker to join right?
Second, since i could not see something along those lines in here : will some kind of voip be needed? If so what kind.
Thirdly i just want to say that i loved playing BP. AoA was nice but i really fell in love with WiH :).
Thanks and hopefully till the 19th.
1. We won't just let you attend, we WANT you to attend! The more people there are the better it will be.
2. No voip is necessary, here's what you need.
a. A working release copy of WIH (and AoA). You sound like you've given both a playthrough so you've got it.
b. BP:WIH multi is delivered via SVN. See this thread for how to get setup. Be sure to update on test day.
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=73966.0
c. We will be on IRC to coordinate the games. Go to this URL on test day, and pick your HLP nickname.
http://wbe04.mibbit.com/?settings=b73fe961ed217d9a3cbd9637dc7ba9bf&server=irc.esper.net&channel=%23hard-light&noServerTab=false
d. Make sure you are running Freespace Open (in the launcher) version 6832r. This is the latest multiplayer compatable build and the one we will use on test day. see the origional post for the link.
e. Lastly, make sure you have a registered pilot on Fs2 multi. See this thread for how to set one up. (Don't need to do step#2)
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=63609.0
3. Great games aren't they? Welcome to HLP! Green beam!
-
Willing to test multi on BP. :)
-
how can I make sure I am using 6832r? as far as i know i have 3.6.12 Inf as far as i know do i have to get 6832r from some svn? if yes which?
thanks in advance
-
It's in the BP multi SVN, just copy it into your main FS2 folder and select it in the launcher.
-
It's in the BP multi SVN, just copy it into your main FS2 folder and select it in the launcher.
So it is. Damn, it took me ages to find that build in the nightlies. >:-(
-
It's in the BP multi SVN, just copy it into your main FS2 folder and select it in the launcher.
So it is. Damn, it took me ages to find that build in the nightlies. >:-(
That's why I gave the link on the first page of this thread. Here it is for those who are having trouble finding it.
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,73203.0.html
-
It's right in the SVN, though!
-
I would also love to come and play tomorrow.
Not sure if I can host though, only have 750k upload on a good day here (or is it a dedicated server?)
-
I would also love to come and play tomorrow.
Not sure if I can host though, only have 750k upload on a good day here (or is it a dedicated server?)
Be glad to have you aboard!
We can give it a shot and see how it is. Others can host games for us as well. Fubar's working on a standalone server for us, but we've always got peer to peer as a backup.
-
Here's what we think of of TvT on BP during pre-game testing: The Feds are too light. Kents and Lao Tze died a lot by crashing from Atlantas easy. Doesn't happen as much in FS2. This is all anecdotal, and we did not open PCS2 to check the mass.
-
oh my god, ****ing nyxes :shaking:
Forced Entry was fun, though!
-
I've just played a few games on Kinky's server. It was fun! Here are my initial thoughts.
Forced Entry
When a character speaks, the controlling player's name shows up rather than the character's name.
My radar icons were very messed up (I have the MVP radaricons installed).
As the Ravana explodes, it teleports off to the side. Only the player controlling Alpha 1 apparently sees the cutscene (and gets a medal).
The spawn points are much too far from the mission objectives.
UEB Durga
In a bomber-only dogfight mission, I was unable to load any missiles into the third slot. After I unloaded the default option (Javelin, I think), I was unable to put it back in.
Uhlan-only dogfight on the moon
This mission took an extraordinarily long time to load on my machine, and half of the other players dropped from the server. On our second try, the game started, but the server crashed a few minutes in.
Also, spawn points are too far from each other.
My thoughts on balance
I found it very easy to get kills with the Grimler. I don't think it's technically overpowered once players learn to dodge it, but it's certainly a game-changer, and probably shouldn't be available in every dogfight mission.
I think the Lao Tze should be a little more maneuverable.
Personally, I'd really like to play a dogfight with reverse afterburners...
Addendum: I just played a few games on Buckshee's server.
The Cavalier icon on the loadout screen appears as a white rectangle. Also, the main menu button for Multiplayer says 'Continue'. :D
Gattler ammo is still negative on the first spawn.
The mission 'Escalation' is fun, and I really like the idea. I found myself spawning inside the battle a few times, though.
-
On the moon: Takes long to reach eachother, resulting in grimler grief. A map which can be REALLY fun for Draco's with Balors. They can scoot around the base and use light weapons for sustained battle. Drop the Uhlan's. Maybe add NPC gun emplacements to fire on the player, can be great fun in a Draco or interceptor battle.
Generic dogfight around the station: Get rid of the swarmers, they get spammed like mad with 12 players at once and those big missile bays. Rid the Ansarii, it's still there.
-
Forced Entry
When a character speaks, the controlling player's name shows up rather than the character's name.
Sounds like Callsigns are overriden by player names in multi. I'll see what I can do.
(I have the MVP radaricons installed).
why
As the Ravana explodes, it teleports off to the side. Only the player controlling Alpha 1 apparently sees the cutscene (and gets a medal).
Sounds like a good load of sexp just don't work proparly in multi.
The spawn points are much too far from the mission objectives.
Spawn points are fixed, and given the size of the mission, there is nothing I really can do about this. You're gonna hate Post Meridian about that too.
-
Tev vs UEF (NWTR)
The respawns are too close. I kept colliding with friendlies if we die about the same time.
UEF is too underpowered. Also, their fighters seem really light. That, or the Atlanta is broken. Further testing required. Would be easier to show if there are UEF vs UEF or Tev vs Tev
-
Sounds like a good load of sexp just don't work proparly in multi.
Mantis them. The event system has been updated to allow all SEXPs to work in multi, they just haven't all been included yet. Coders'll need to know which are missing.
-
Here's some screens from today's test. Thanks everyone for the games.
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1914-47-57-71.jpg)
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1914-48-48-64.jpg)
(corvette coop mission)
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1915-20-49-54.jpg)
(Droid803 fighting for survival in 'Staind Mars Red')
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1915-39-56-60.jpg)
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1915-39-47-52.jpg)
(MatthTheGeek's conversion of the bp:AoA mission 'Forced Entry')
(http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x380/Brandon_Rehayem/fs2_open_3_6_13r_INF-20101212_r2011-02-1916-56-36-84.jpg)
(Swooping in for a Javelin strike in the Fed vs Tev TvT mission)
Since we didn't get to it today... If anyone feels up for it, play the UEF gauntlet mission made by Mars. I would like to hear if you all feel it's balanced.
Also, avoid the TvT mission UEF fleet battle A. It's unfinished.
-
Not really helpful at all, but here are my musings:
*Weapons:- A common complaint about UEF primaries was the lack of energy usage. I don't know if the Rapier has been adjusted at all for multi but I found it drained my bar after prolonged usage, which is a good for thing for such a powerful gun.
I wouldn't go as far as saying the Grimler is overpowered but it is incredibly effective. I must have gotten a 75% kill rate with it. I'd recommend a slight nerfing, perhaps to it's speed. The Javelin is the very first aspect seeking missile I've ever used that actually hits human players. It actually works well at close range ( <1000 metres) and it'll kill things if they have <40% hull most of the time.
The Sidhe is f*cking brutal! I loved using it! I would suggest lowering it's effective range to <350-400 metres as I was able to hit things above that range and get some good damage done. It's really dependent on accuracy which makes it balanced well and why it would probably be useless in dogfight.
EDIT: Actually increase the spread to make it less accurate, I didn't have much trouble hitting things.
*Craft:- I didn't actually fly the Lao Tze but watching it I noticed it looks like it has a lot of inertia: it slides it's back end quite a bit when turning, like the GVF Horus. I cannot for the life of me hit the Atlanta, it's so godamn small and manoeuvrable! The Uhlan is awesome, it has a good gun setup, generous payload capacity, good manoeuvrability and it's freaking tiny. I'd pick it over the Kent.
Multi is too fast-paced to make accurate judgements, but reverse thrust seems to have gotten nerfed real bad. I was 400 metres from the Diomedes in Stained Mars Red and going at full throttle, reverse thrusting did not stop me smacking my face into it. :) I guess the fear is the power it has in dogfighting, but I found the Atlanta's reverse throttle ability was powerful enough even without an afterburner, I got raped and raped others with it although in the latter case we outnumbered the other team (TvT). It might be the ability is just fundamentally game altering, bearing in mind in both those situations it was the host doing the raping. (Sara raped me, I gently raped others).
*Missions:- Stained Red Mars is gonna become a favourite thats for sure. It's well done and seems to be balanced appropiately for the time being. I'd suggest making the spawn point for the Nyxes as a distance value away from the player as I got the jump on them when they arrived. Other than that it was fun! VA is gonna be a requirement, I didn't get a look at the messages at all.
Not sure what to say about TvT, Tev vs UEF in particular. Some people have said the UEF is overpowered, personally I thought the Tevs were more dominant. Having been on the winning side of both I'm going to hazard it's probably balanced for now, except for the Grimler issues.
While we never did finish Escalation I found the weapons weren't what they should be. The craft choice was good, but the weapons weren't. I got more kills with the hellfires on the Scimitar than the crap on the Herc II. The Herc should have Prom S and aspect seekers, while subsequent craft can have Balors and dumbfire or heat seekers. The Herc is so slow it won't matter. The craft choice is what makes the difference imho. If you give them decent, but not overpowering weapons then the craft will create the whole 'escalation' effect.
-
Forced Entry
When a character speaks, the controlling player's name shows up rather than the character's name.
Sounds like Callsigns are overriden by player names in multi. I'll see what I can do.
Some multi missions override while others don't, so it must be mission dependent. An example would be the retail Into the Lion's Den vs the Into the Lion's Den with respawns. The one with respawns uses player names.
-
Forced Entry
When a character speaks, the controlling player's name shows up rather than the character's name.
Sounds like Callsigns are overriden by player names in multi. I'll see what I can do.
Some multi missions override while others don't, so it must be mission dependent. An example would be the retail Into the Lion's Den vs the Into the Lion's Den with respawns. The one with respawns uses player names.
I don't think retail uses callsigns, so they cannot be overridden if they aren't there. The generic Alpha 2, Beta 3 and so fourth is unaffected. EDIT: not sure just a guess!
You can get around overridden callsigns by putting a # sign and type out the character's name for each send-message sexp much in the same way #Command works without a ship named Command.
Really though, unless it crashes the game or throws asserts I think you should keep it. It adds some kind of charm to the missions, giving the impression that each player is assuming the role of their respective characters. On the other hand, maybe it gets old fast. This is opinion of course, but I personally am not worried about the issue.
-
You can get around overridden callsigns by putting a # sign and type out the character's name for each send-message sexp much in the same way #Command works without a ship named Command.
Ahead of you already. Fixed on my end and will soon be committed, once I am done balancing the mission so I don't win it all by myself in Insane.
Mantis them. The event system has been updated to allow all SEXPs to work in multi, they just haven't all been included yet. Coders'll need to know which are missing.
Same. Mantis #0002401.
-
Post-game test 20/02/11
Special Thanks to mura, Zalem, and Kyad for testing.
The Grimler should be seriously nerfed or banned in dogfights as it can take out even a heavy fighter like an Izra'il in one hit. Despite being an aspect-seeking weapon, it can deter beginning players from ever surviving if they don't know how to dodge them. Also, since it flies straight, anyone who goes head up against will die if dumbfired.
We tested the intertias of UEF fighters, and the Kentauroi can lose 44% of their health by slowly ramming a Uhlan while the Uhlan receives minor damage. When at full speed, a Kent or a Uhlan ramming each other will kill both. Whether this is a useful tactic or a bug remains to be tested. (We haven't rammed into GTVA fighters to find out if it's useful against them, nor do we know the extent of this tactic available against any other fighters). This exploit, however, is useless against the Lao Tze and Izra'il as they receive little to no damage from rams. The following is the assumed mass of fighters arranged from highest to least:
Izra'il > Lao Tze > Uhlan > Kentauroi
While I do like the tactic to be available, I don't want the abuse to exist for a low-health fighter deciding to ram a fighter without damage to make use of its life.
The Izra'il starts with Hellfires by default, but they're not allowed to carry them. When I used the Izra'il with default loadout, I ended up with no secondaries.
-
In addition to SypheDMar's findings, I find that the Kentauroi's sheilds are incredibly powerful for an ultra-light, easily bypassing the sheilds of comparable fighters I've flown (or uef primaries just do less dmg then tev, this is a full possibility)
also, the kents shields do not drop at all when ramming another ship like others do, they remain at full strength