Might develop a patch for the Barb compass range Options

[ScrapyardBob]

This goes back to my work from Oct 2004 on the compass range issue in the initial release of CoD:UO:

http://www.iwnation.com/Forums/index.php?showtopic=10222

The default value for CoD:UO still seems to be 1024 units for the compass range. You can check this in-game by opening the console and typing ([TAB] means to hit the tab key):

/cg_hud[TAB]

You'll notice that cg_hudCompassMaxRange indicates the radius of your compass. It's read-only so you can only change it by applying server-side mods.

One of the fun things is that if the gametype or map that you're playing does not specifically set the compass_range variable in its GSC files, it will inherit it from the previously played map. This is why some of us noticed that sometimes Ponyri had a good compass while other times the compass was messed up. (It all depended on what map we played previously.)

More in a bit...

[ScrapyardBob]

Looking at Barbarossa's GSC file. After-Hourz actually released both mp_uo_barbarossa.pk3 and a follow-up user_svr_barbfix.pk3. The GSC file in the user_svr_barbfix.pk3 overrides the GSC file in the original PK3 file.

Right now, it looks like the Barbarossa map always loads with a compass range of 1024. This range is good for close quarters battle maps (i.e. Chateau, Carentan) but is not so good for larger maps like Foy / Ponyri / Barbarossa / Smolensk. My personal preference is compass ranges of 3000-5000 units on maps like that. It's a tradeoff between being able to see what's going on far away and still being able to find small targets like bombs / CNQ points / flags.

I've patched the user_svr_barbfix.pk3 file to set the compass range on Barbarossa (all gametypes) to 4096. It makes a big difference as you can tell where your teammates are in the russian town by R3. I'd love for Slyk (or other After-Hourz) folks to take a look at this and see what they think. I'm unsure whether 4096 is too coarse of a setting for SD/RE gameplay (or CNQ). It seems to be fine on my local test server.


This post has been edited by ScrapyardBob: 02/12/06 11:55am

[ScrapyardBob]

Looks like I can adapt the following code snippet to allow different compass ranges for the various gametypes:

gametype = getcvar("g_gametype");
cullflag = 0;

switch(gametype)
{
// !Easy
// strict team spawn areas
case "ctf": cullflag = 256; break;
case "sd": cullflag = 256; break;
case "re": cullflag = 256; break; // not supported

// !Medium
// command point-style modes (i.e. Domination)
case "dom": cullflag = 512; break;

// !Hard
// open dm-style spawning
case "dm": cullflag = 1024; break;
case "tdm": cullflag = 1024; break;
case "hq": cullflag = 1024; break;
case "bel": cullflag = 1024; break;
case "ttdm": cullflag = 1024; break; // not supported

// !Deathmatch
// numerous localized team spawns (i.e. Base Assault)
case "bas": cullflag = 2048; break;

}

or

if (getcvar("g_gametype") == "bel")

Easy enough change if the 4096 doesn't feel right for all gametypes.

[ScrapyardBob]

Changed the ranges. Added a switch statement to allow multiple ranges by gametype.

BAS & CTF = 4096
CNQ = 3172
default = 2048

I experimented with 6000 for BAS. Not a bad setting, but drastically different from what people would be used to so I reverted to 4096. At 4096, that's about the distance that teammates need to be in order to provide support to others. The larger scale gave me a better idea of what was going on at a distance but made it more difficult to track closer-in teammates.

[Sgt. Thomas]

Thanks for the info bob!!!!!!!!

[ScrapyardBob]

Note that these PK3s are designed for server-side use. Since they have the "_svr_" within their filenames, they do not get downloaded to client-side. The server admins would have to add these to the Barb/Smolensk servers. Putting them on a client PC does nothing.

As a bonus (with server-side mods), it's easy enough to change the settings in the PK3, and then upload it to the server during a restart to get new compass settings to take effect. (No worries about clients having outdated versions.)

Here is the compass fix for Smolensk. I went with a larger scale for BAS compared to the Barbarossa map.

BAS - 6000
CNQ - 3000
CTF - 4500

[ScrapyardBob]

We were talking about compass ranges in Ventrillo last night. To give you a better idea of what the various ranges are like:

1024 units - allows you to see the surrounding 3 houses in a typical town. It's a good range setting for smaller and slower moving games like SD/RE where stealth is key and there's a lot of door-to-door fighting. IIRC, you can toss a grenade about 1000 units.

2048 units - The Arnhem and Berlin maps use 2816 for compass range. Probably a better setting for larger infantry-focused maps. It allows you to see 4-5 houses away, but still provides a clear picture of who is directly near you. On the Barbarossa map, the 45mm gun behind R3 is about 2000 units away from R3.

3172 units - The main village in Smolensk is ~6000 units wide/long. A compass range of 3172 would allow you to be in the middle of the village and know where your allies are in all of the surrounding houses. To give you another idea, the Stone Bridge is 3000 units away from the pak gun by German #2 on the Smolensk map. This compass range seems to work well for objective based maps like Conquest where you only have to be within an area rather then at a specific point. Another measure is that the distance between the spawn house near German #2 and German #2 on Barbarossa is 2500 units.

4096 units - This is about 1/3 the width of Barbarossa. It's also about the limit of accurate gunfire and rapid assistance. It takes close to 20 seconds to sprint/run 4000 units (rough estimate). With a 4096 compass, you can stand between R1 and R3 on the Barbarossa map and see if you have allied defenders at both locations (R1 is about 7000 units from R3). Another measure is that R2 is about 4000 units away from the forward middle 45mm gun bunker. The distance between G1 and R2 is about 6000 units (the river behind G1 is about 4000 units from R2).

6000 units - The distance between R2 and R3 on the Smolensk map is around 6500 units. The distance between R2 and R3 is more like 9000 units. The pillbox is about 7000 units away from R2. The distance between the pillbox and G2 or G3 is around 5500 units.

For the stock UO maps, here are the compass range values (all other maps use 1024 units):

mp_arnhem - 2816
mp_berlin - 2816
mp_foy - 6124
mp_italy - 13000
mp_kharkov - 6124
mp_kursk - 13000
mp_rhinevalley - 12500
mp_uo_harbor - 3200

Note that Ponyri still uses 1024 units. But if there's interest, I can give the server admins a PK3 that changes it to use 3172 units or 4096 units. However, depending on what order you rotate the maps, you may not be seeing an issue with Ponyri. (Since it will sometimes use the previous map's compass range.)

Basically, larger values give you a better idea of the overall strategic situation, while smaller values give you better local tactical information. With a large compass you can easily tell where your teammates are at a distance, smaller ranges make you more reliant on teammates to actively communicate their position and enemy activity. Larger values also allow the newer players to find locations quicker.

6000 units - The distance between R2 and R3 on the Smolensk map is around 6500 units. The distance between R2 and R3 is more like 9000 units.

This should say that the distance between R1 and R2 on the Smolensk map is ~6000 units. The R3 base is farther away from R2 (roughly 9000 units).

[ScrapyardBob]

The one thing that I'm not sure of:

Do server side PK3s that are in the server's UO folder affect gamestate size? According to the Barbarossa readme file, it does:

* Max_Gamestate_Chars:

* This error has not occured in repeated testing of the map. Servers may experience this error if running one or more mods. It is suggested that IF this error occurs, remove one mod at a time until the map will load and complete a rotation.
* IF Max_Gamestate error occurs, it will most likely be in BAS mode. BAS requires far more data size resources than CTF or CNQ.

IF your server experiences this error. Please report it to admin@after-hourz.com
* Max_Gamestate_Chars is a limit of 30,000 bytes instituted by IW/GMI. The server can only load this limit of data per gametype. This includes ALL scripts for the map, EFX, Vehicles, and ALL models. Mods and other 'enhancements' contribute to this load. Each player joining contributes. Many custom maps and projects are running into this limit. The only suggestion is too remove some or all mods that may add data size.
* One of the most effective methods to combat this is to reduce the total number of pk3s your server loads, as the filenames themselves add to gamestate size. Many times combining server side mods, and removing mods or maps that aren't used any more will solve the gamestate crash problems.

The solution to this then, at least for the Barbarossa mod would be to replace the existing user_svr_barbfix.pk3 with the new file user_svr_barbfix2_test.pk3, and change the filename to be something even shorter ("user_svr_bfix.pk3" or "barbfix_svr_.pk3).

The solution to this then, at least for the Barbarossa mod would be to replace the existing user_svr_barbfix.pk3 with the new file user_svr_barbfix2_test.pk3, and change the filename to be something even shorter ("user_svr_bfix.pk3" or "barbfix_svr_.pk3).

Actually, the names would need to start with the letter 'z'. So "zbarb_svr_.pk3" and "zsmolensk_svr_.pk3". Other server-side mods (i.e. CNQ) could also have their names shortened, as long as they still appear in the same order alphabetically.

[ScrapyardBob]

For example, on my test server I have:

mp_uo_barbarossa.pk3
mp_uo_smolensk.pk3
usr_cnq_svr_v3.0.b2.pk3 (renamed CNQ PK3 file)
z_ahz_vehicles.pk3
zbarbfix_svr_.pk3
zsmolensk_svr_.pk3

Which seems to work just fine.

[Leadmagnet]

sounds good.

[Hellfighter]

Hi Bob, you [and the other talented designers we well know by now] need to be 'found' by some Hugh Hefner type game designer and be richly rewarded with a six figure income job that exposes your dedicated gift to the masses! You definately come across as a giant with all these tomes of critiques/info you post

This post has been edited by Hellfighter: 02/16/06 5:20pm

[ScrapyardBob]

I watched some people play CNQ on Smolensk last night with a custom compass range. Because the end-points are objective-based rather then zone-based, compass ranges should be a little finer grained in CNQ. The 3000-3172 unit range on a CNQ compass is about the maximum that is reasonable. A setting of 2000 or 2500 would probably be better for CNQ play. (Or for gametypes like S&D/RE on the larger maps.)

For BAS, settings of 4000-6000 are fine because you're dealing with larger scale battles where you need better info as to where your allies are positioned.

CTF - Probably 3000-4000, maybe even a bit larger. The flagpoles are easy to see at a distance. (Unlike the end-point objectives in CNQ, or the bombs / documents in SD/RE.)

[Painbysteelrain]

All I can say is wow Bob............................



Your thoughtfullness and attention to detail is staggering. Keep up the good work man! Looks to me like you are going to nehace the gameplay and enjoyment of the game.

Kudos!

[ScrapyardBob]

Notes on gamestate:

http://www.after-hourz.com/forum/index.php...ter&f=24&t=6201

Posted by: gitman May 25 2005, 08:36 PM ok here's the testing ive done:

using dawnville as the map, tdm as the gametype, windows server (dedicated = 2)

notice i have "zzz_ahz_vehicle_pack1_beta2.pk3" being loaded. i renamed this file to "zahzvp.pk3" (a reduction of 21 characters) and gamestate dropped by 42 bytes. i then renamed that same file to "z.pk3" (5 chars less) and gamestate dropped by another 10 bytes.

so with this particular pak file, each character added to the name of the file adds 2 bytes to the gamestate. so maybe having a filename like "zzz_ahz_vehicle_pack1_beta2.pk3" and "user_pub_conquest_uo_svr_v3.0.b2.pk3" isn't such a good idea?

an empty pak file named z.pk3 adds 0 bytes. that same pk3 with a directory in it (name doesn't matter) adds 13 bytes, even if the directory is empty. i then renamed this file to zz.pk3 and that added 1 more byte, same thing with zzz.pk3.

then i renamed it back to z.pk3 and created a "gfx" folder and stuck a bunch of dds files in there. i found that depending on the amount of files that are in the pk3, it will fluctuate between 12-14 bytes.

so maybe saying custom maps doesn't affect gamestate is wrong?

Also:

http://www.iwnation.com/Forums/index.php?s...ndpost&p=113742