Tuchola Forest Beta #3 Feedback, Wed May 3rd Options

[ScrapyardBob]

Beta #3 has been released.

Major changes:

1. Increased the maximum density allowed for the raindrop effect. Server admins can now set the CVar "syb_rain_nodes" to values as high as 25. I do not recommend values above 15 except for very low population servers with very few additional mods. The default density in Beta #3 is slightly higher in Beta #2 which should result in a better looking effect.

Note: The raindrop effect has a slight impact on gamestate size. But no more then it did in Beta #2 for a particular CVar value.

2. Added a special effect that randomly rustles foliage and makes other random noise in the tall pine trees (the sound of snow falling through the branches). This represents the effect of small wildlife making noise or wind causing snow/ice to fall from the upper branches of trees. The effect has minimal effect on CPU load or gamestate. The effect on gameplay is that players will not be 100% sure whether a sound that they just heard was natural or manmade.

Admins can disable the effect using the CVar "syb_rustlenoise". Setting this CVAR to anything other then "1" will disable the sounds (and save a few bytes of gamestate).

3. Finished the Russian spawn area. Russians now have their final buildings, bunkers, trenches, foliage and vehicle locations.

4. Trimmed various entities across the map (ammo spawns, removed 2 BAS spawn poins in each spawn area, etc). With all options enabled, gamestate in Beta #3 is about 250 bytes heavier then in Beta #2 during Base Assault games.

5. There is now a trench on the hill east of G2. In addition, there are a pair of tunnels that connect through to the West Farm Bunker. This gives infantry another way to get from the Farm to G2.

6. Fixing the broken flags in DOM, adding descriptions to the flag locations in DOM.

7. Added CTF support to the map. Since I don't play a lot of CTF, I will be very interested in feedback from clans who do play CTF. Admins will probably want to disable the pak guns for CTF play.

8. Vehicle balance for Beta #3

Vehicle Balance, 64 total entities, max 48 active:

Static weapons (12):
(7) Pak40/Pak45
(5) Mortars

German - Base Assault (9 tanks)
(2) Jagd
(1) StugIII
(3) Panzer IV
(3) Panzer III
(3) Halftracks (3 spawn)
(6) Horches (2 spawn, S Forest, SW Farm, G1, G3)

Russian - Base Assault (9 tanks)
(2) KV1
(2) T34 stock
(2) T34_76
(3) BT7
(2) milk trucks (spawn, R2)
(7) Jeeps (3 spawn, R1, R3, SE Pak45, NE Farm)

Non-BAS gametypes:
- Adds (6) Jeeps/Horches across map
- Removes 10 tanks from spawns, (1) StugIII, (2) Jagd, (2) PanzerIV (2) KV1, (1) T34 stock, (2) T34_76
- Adds (4) light tanks
- Each team has (5) light tanks and one medium tank

9. I desire information on any clans that are running Tuchola or Barbarossa in conjunction with AWE. Please post your AWE config settings or e-mail them to me. Especially important is knowledge about what AWE settings conflict with the After-Hourz vehicle pack.

10. Identified and fixed pak guns that could hit enemy bases.

11. Finished converting about half of the roads from patch mesh to terrain mesh. This will lower the chance of exiting a vehicle and falling to your death (or simply falling through a section of road and getting stuck).

12. Lowered the upper limit of visibility from 9500 to 8500, this will help with frame rates. (There are 3 problem spots that there's nothing I can do with, other then redesigning large sections of the map.)

13. Weapon spawns in the main spawn points are on 5 sec timers instead of 10 sec. Weapons farther away from the main spawn are on slower timers (15/20/30/60 sec).

14. Added more VCLOG data (about 25%), mostly filling in gaps not yet VCLOG'd as well as adding VCLOG data to newly added areas since Beta #1. This should help reduce/eliminate lag when entering a new section of the map.

15. Added victory images. It was very difficult to find good images for this as the German flag used in CoD:UO seems to be a "fake" flag. If someone wants to make a better pair of images, please feel free to email them to me in time for Beta #4.

Minor changes:

a. Fixed the bazooka box at the mortar position in the NE (Glacier Pass, Trail A) so that players no longer get stuck.

b. Replaced a few trenches across the map.

c. Hill 13 now has a few more trees and rocks.

d. There's a new trench and trees north of G2.

e. Changed terrain slightly to affect how easy/hard it is to shell long-range across the map. R3 is now lower, G3 is now slightly higher.

f. Ambient noise during snowy / rainy rounds will be increased slightly.

g. Added a few more buildings. Added a few models and decorations inside of buildings.

h. Final addition of foliage across the map.

i. Added flags by the bases.

j. Fixed up the G1 pak gun position to be similar to the G2 pak gun.

k. The SE Farm Mortar now has a greater side-to-side coverage angle

l. SE Bridge pak-45 has greater protection from its sandbags.

m. Removed the wall behind the R1 pak gunner (reduces chance of dying due to splash damage off a wall right behind the gunner).

n. A few more trees in the farm area to obscure sight lines.

Things that didn't make the cut or weren't fixed in time:

- A small terrain glitch by Russian #2. This cropped up yesterday and only shows up in-game (not in the editor). Since it's about 1 pixel wide it doesn't affect gameplay so I won't hold the release because of it.

- The map boundary terrain behind the German spawn is not finished.

- The map boundary terrain south of R1 is not finished.

- The map boundary terrain at the SW Bridge is not finished.

- There are still broken alpha blends and other textures that need adjusting.

- Some fences in the farm area are not finished (because I plan on reworking the terrain).

- I did not have time to rework the overhead map images for Beta #3.

- The inside of treelines still need to be fixed and re-textured to look correct from the "air" (and also to block a difficult-to-abuse exploit that is theoretically possible).

[ScrapyardBob]

Best to PM the High Priest Druid to make sure.

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FKR is running Tuchola Beta #3 in CTF mode on their #6 server. They've graciously offered to be testers for that gametype. Waiting to see what the feedback is on flag and spawn locations.

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Fun statistic, when I was creating the "foliage rustling" sound effects.

There are ~1600 pieces of foliage on the map (bushes, white spruce trees and tall pine trees). I sectioned these models as follows (roughly 200 models per thread):

tall pine trees, ~800, split by quadrant (around 200 per quadrant)
white spruce trees, ~400, split into east/west map sections
spikey shrubbery (very narrow at the base, all brown), ~200 shrubs
other shrubbery, ~200 shrubs

Shrubs and bushes can only emit the foliage rustling noise. The noise source is a random distance from the ground level, roughly waist-high.

Short spruce trees only emit the foliage rustling noise. The noise source is also a random distance from the ground, but at a greater height off of the ground.

Tall pine trees can emit foliage rustling noises from various heights. But they also have the 2 snow-shifting sounds (low quality, to be replaced in Beta #4 with better sound) and tree creaks (not installed yet) as the branches rub together due to the weight of the snow and the wind.

So, if you are near multiple types of foliage, you're more likely to experience the random foliage noises. Plus if you are on a boundary between two quadrants, you've got a higher chance of hearing noise.

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I was slightly surprised that nobody commented on the noises in gamechat when I was logged in. I guess the effect is extremely subtle and players figure they made the noise themselves. Or else they figure they couldn't find the noisemaker.

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The G2 tunnel is proving interesting for the Germans. A boon of they use it. A thorn if they don't. I'd estimate that only half of the playerbase even knows that there are tunnels that connect to the W Farm Bunker.

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I should probably adjust the attic ladders in the two houses. The holes are a bit small, which makes it tricky to exit the attic. Same thing goes for a few other ladders (KV1 barn and the W Farm Bunker).

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Need to add HMG brushes to the sides of snowy trenches. Also need to add HMG brushes to numerous crates in the ammo shelters and the W Farm Tunnel.

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A lot of bunkers need their snowline decals applied (see the R2 bunker for a finished example where the snow meets the side of the bunker). This helps with visual recognition due to the dark wood against the light snow which can be visually confusing. The snowline decals help the eye to pick out where the entrance to the bunker more easily.