[I_E_Maverick]

hi there! i am very new to fs2 projects and i work for the Babylon project as a modeler. i read a very interesting suggestion about a multiplayer mode and i wondered if it could be implemented.
if this was asked before i apologize but could it be done that you get points or money for your kills in game so that you could spend it for stations or better ships, weapons capital ships and stuff?

i heard about that you can call in backup after having an amount of kills and stuff, so i thought you could modify this to make it a bit more like a buy or upgrade system.

[karajorma]

If persistant variables were implemented for multiplayer a half-decent FREDder could probably do almost everything on that list.

So Goob. How hard are persistant variables for multiplayer?

[Goober5000]

I honestly don't know.  I'm waiting for multiplayer to be fixed before answering that.

[karajorma]

The fact is I'm getting more and more interested in making a couple of multiplayer missions. No one appears to be making any missions for MP that use the new SCP features. I can understand that a lot of stuff can't be done cause any table changes require validation but all the new SEXPs should be usable.

I don't particularly want to take on anything new but if I get a nice idea for mission that does something completely new (like the above) I might actually give it a go just so I can finally release something

[Goober5000]

The problem is that anytime you add a new feature to multiplayer you have to add some packet stuff to handle it.  If multiplayer requires any packet fiddling, you're most likely out of luck.  It's why the ship limit has stayed at 130 for so long.

Have you tried making a multiplayer campaign with PVs?  I see nothing in the network code that explicitly prohibits it or fails to allow it.

[karajorma]

I've not actually but I seem to vaguely remember you saying that they didn't work with multiplayer.

What I was planning to do would have any PVs I used staying local to the the hosts machine not the players so there shouldn't be any problems to do with packets.

Anyway even without PVs there are a hell of a lot of new mission types that could be made that were previously impossible using the new SEXPs.

[Goober5000]

Well I just checked again, and since the PVs are saved directly into the campaign struct the multi code should handle it automatically.  So theoretically it should work.

[karajorma]

Cool I'll brainstorm some ideas later

[I_E_Maverick]

so many posts and i didnt understand the half of it
what are PVs? and did anybody actually answered my question?

would it be possible to set a mission so that 2 teams play against each other with the goal to destroy a structure with buyable ships and equipment?

as told i am just a modeler and dont understand anything of code related or mission editor things. so i would be glad if you could answer this a bit more noob friendly

[Grug]

PV = Persistent Variables.

IE To save numbers / score / points in multiplayer we need PV's to store that data and to transmit it to the other players.

To add extra stuff to send to people over the web however will mean more bandwidth required and thus in some cases more Latency, aka Lag.

Apparently it should work. We just need a few Fredders to try it out.

Help?

[Goober5000]

Well, this is already possible in single player using retail.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Goober5000
It's why the ship limit has stayed at 130 for so long.
 

I don't suppose this could be bumped with a command line? - breakmulti or something? It's probably too fundamental for command line parameters, but worth the time it took to ask this question if it isn't IMO.

Originally posted by Goober5000
Well, this is already possible in single player using retail.

You know, it wouldn;t be that hard to flesh that out with a storyline and some basic missions - I had an idea to do just that awhile back, but Uni and TI kind of got in the way timewise.

It's still a kickarse proof of concept though.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
I don't suppose this could be bumped with a command line? - breakmulti or something? It's probably too fundamental for command line parameters, but worth the time it took to ask this question if it isn't IMO.

Aye, that's why we have the Inferno builds.  They're not multi-compatible, but they have bumped limits.

You know, it wouldn;t be that hard to flesh that out with a storyline and some basic missions - I had an idea to do just that awhile back, but Uni and TI kind of got in the way timewise.

Yeah, I think I remember that.  But ShadowWolf is working on a full-fledged campaign that will make extensive use of this kind of gameplay.

It's still a kickarse proof of concept though.

Thanks.

[I_E_Maverick]

thx for the clear answers! now i got a little something

i will have a look of fredders that can help just give me some time.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Grug
PV = Persistent Variables.

IE To save numbers / score / points in multiplayer we need PV's to store that data and to transmit it to the other players.

To add extra stuff to send to people over the web however will mean more bandwidth required and thus in some cases more Latency, aka Lag.

I've been thinking about this one a little and I'm wondering how a few things work.

Before playing multiplayer the mission is xfer'd across to the client so it's obvious that the client machine needs a copy of the mission for something but it seems odd that each computer would be running it's own copy of the mission because what would happen in the case of things like use of the random SEXP, each machine would generate it's own number and the mission could very easily go down divergent paths for each player.

I might need to test this to see how the game treats variables and randomly generated numbers in multiplayer before I say that everything is possible. Cause if the clients have a different variable stored from the host I can see everything going to pot pretty quickly.

[I_E_Maverick]

was there any success by now?

[Goober5000]

What do you mean?  The concept should work; all you have to do now is FRED it.

[wolfdog]

Originally posted by karajorma


I might need to test this to see how the game treats variables and randomly generated numbers in multiplayer before I say that everything is possible. Cause if the clients have a different variable stored from the host I can see everything going to pot pretty quickly.

Don't know if it's of any help, but you can have random events in multiplayer, I know it because there are working missions with them... Try looking for the mission "knife Fight" for an example.

[karajorma]

Thanks. When this topic was bumped I figured I'd spend tonight playing with multiplayer to see what I could learn. Now I've got a good place to start

[I_E_Maverick]

good to hear! i hope you can tell some progress after testing