I went through the stock sound effects again, nothing else that really caught my fancy.

Guess I'll go price a few more sound effects from SoundDogs. They do have a decent babbling brook sound that I think I can loop and play along the riverline. Plus a few tree groans and snaps/pops to simulate the weight of the snow on the pine trees.

So far for the moth of April we've had
1315 downloads of beta2
1100 downloads of beta1
This equals out to 17 GB between the two maps.

There is no reason why you should pay hardly anything for an http redirect.
Bandwidth overages cost a fortune.
Easy way around that is to get a cheapo account at another host.
One I would reccomend is
http://www.1and1.com/
They have a cheapo account for $3/month with plenty of bandwidth to cover your needs.
1and1 isn't a host I would recommend for actual hosting as they lack several important features most people would want, but they don't tell you that unless you read the fine print.
For your needs, it doesn't matter as you are only looking for cheap bandwidth for file downloads.
BTW 1and1 make a lot of there money selling extra crap people don't need.
Don't get any extra's as you don't need them anyway.

I'm not sure if they still offer a free or cheap domain name with new accounts.
If not, that would only equal out to another $8/year

Been mucking with the river sounds this evening. I have something that sounds decent, but has a few drawbacks.

1. Increased gamestate by 600 bytes (to 26100 for BAS). It also puts me closer to the maximum scriptable entities limit which I'd prefer to stay far and away from.

2. The sound is very local to the riverline (less then a grenade throw away and you won't hear it). I can't get increased range without some other audio errors cropping up.

3. I'm still not thrilled with it.

I'll probably demo it on the test server tomorrow (via v098) but I'm 80% sure I'm going to rip it back out before Beta 3 is released.

v098 is up on the test server (70.42.41.170), this is a preview release of Beta3 and includes the river noise that I'm probably going to take back out.

Don't think the river sound is working in v098, I'll look at it tomorrow when I'm more awake.

Upcoming fixes in v099 (beta 3 preview).

- Fixing the broken flags in DOM, adding descriptions to the flag locations in DOM. The DOM gametype will be working properly in Beta3. Vehicle balance is still a bit off in infantry-centric games like HQ/TDM/BEL/DOM/CTF.

- Added flags by the bases in BAS.

- Working on adding in CTF support.

Thanks for moving that ladder in the Russian spawn. That was the ONLY thing bugging me about this map! Whenever I climb it, I'll think of you!

the problem comes from us having two highly popular servers on one account. it's a dual opteron box so we have one server on one chip and the other on the other and that adds up to a lot of bandwidth

thankfully we don't have to worry about this anymore... our provider offered us a one time bandwidth increase for $25 that gave us 500GB extra each month... it was a great deal and i took it.

i now plan on running every beta release so you'll have continued anarchic-x support at every step of the way

can you leave cvar's to turn off sounds and extra stuff like that?

believe me i'd LOVE to run all of these but we may run into gamestate issues since we have such a heavily modded server. we'll see what we can afford to use and what we can't

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, R3)
(7) Jeeps (3 spawn, R1, R2, 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

The random sound effects added only (5) script entities (one for each thread). No gamestate issues there. (Maybe 60-70 bytes?) Probably be worse to add the CVars then to simply leave those sound effects enabled. They're extremely lightweight other then the size of the GSC.

It's the river effect (43 entitites) that added 600 bytes of gamestate. I wonder if I can simply delete() the script_model origins for the river sound effect at run-time and get a lower gamestate. (Meh... probably not worth it... I'll be ripping those out for Beta #3 anyway.)

Overall gamestate rise between Beta #2 and Beta #3 is probably only around 100 bytes. (New entities to support CTF plus a few odds and ends around the map.)

...

The raindrop effect is probably the worst offender of the lot. At higher values (10 or more out of 25) it's generating a lot of script_entitites that stay around for a single second. We've run a 32-player server with the effect turned all the way up, but heavier servers may need to scale it back. Which is why there's a CVar in Beta #2 for the raindrop effect. Note that in Beta #3, a value of 5 generates twice as many raindrops as it did in Beta #2. Plus, the limit is now 25 instead of 10, so you could potentially have 5x more raindrops in Beta #3 if you went with the upper limit.

The default for the raindrop effect in Beta #3 is 5 (equivalent to Beta #2 set to "10").

...

I'll do quick comparison of Gamestate values in a bit. Anything that adds more then 250bytes is something that I consider worth controlling with CVars.

...

On the bandwidth front, I also have to consider the hassle of clients needing to download the new maps (thank goodness for HTTP redirect in CoD:UO, eh?). It's as painless as it gets, but still requires players staring at the screen for 2-10 minutes while the map downloads.

Gamestate double-check:
- single-player connected to my LAN server

Team Deathmatch:

21663 mp_foy
19115 mp_rhinevalley
22906 mp_uo_barbarossa
20838 mp_uo_smolensk
20290 mp_uo_tucholaforest_062f (early alpha version)
20434 mp_uo_tucholaforest_065
21696 mp_uo_tucholaforest_beta1
22137 mp_uo_tuchola_b2
22733 mp_uo_tuchola_098 (beta3 preview, with river sfx)
22277 mp_uo_tuchola_099 (without river sfx entities)

Conquest:
24006 mp_uo_barbarossa
23643 mp_uo_smolensk
22891 mp_uo_tucholaforest_beta1
23301 mp_uo_tuchola_b2
23814 mp_uo_tuchola_098
23401 mp_uo_tuchola_099

Domination:

23782 mp_foy
22036 mp_rhinevalley
24288 mp_uo_tuchola_099

Base Assault:

25525 mp_foy
23486 mp_rhinevalley
26307 mp_uo_barbarossa
25714 mp_uo_smolensk
23167 mp_uo_tucholaforest_065
25370 mp_uo_tucholaforest_beta1
25674 mp_uo_tuchola_b2
26418 mp_uo_tuchola_098
26067 mp_uo_tuchola_099

- Roughly 15 bytes for each connected player

Bit more growth in Beta #3 for Base Assault then I thought there would be. Still lighter then Barbarossa. I'll look at what the 5 threads for the random SFX is doing to gamestate.

Just a note, v098 that is up on the Test server really isn't production quality. I messed up the splash screen and it does say "Beta 3" instead of "Beta 3 Preview". (Heard that someone, somewhere was running v098 on a server... good luck to them!)

...

Changes in v099

- Raised the G3 base up about a meter, which should make it slightly more vulnerable to firing solutions from across the map. Personally, I think G3 is the most interesting of the G bases to defend, so I don't plan on doing much else to it.

- Lowered the ridgeline tops just east of G2 (West Farm ridgeline). This should make it easier to hit G2 from across the map.

- Lowered R3 about 2 meters which should make it much harder to hit. Since R3 can be easily shelled from Glacier Pass, this is a good trade-off.

- Balance-wise, R2 is the hardest to hit across the map (so far). But all of the russian bases have been fairly easy firing solutions from the G3 tank scrape. By making R3 harder and making G2/G3 easier, it should even things up a bit.

- Made the R1 tank scrape slightly stronger.

I take back what I said about the difference in the raindrop effect between Beta #2 and Beta #3. I've looked closer at the code. A value of "10" in Beta #2 will be equivalent to a value of "10" in Beta #3 (in terms of raindrop density).

The only change to the raindrop effect in Beta #3 is that the upper limit is now "25" instead of "10". (We've had no issues with a value of "10" on a 33 player game which is why I've raised the upper limit. It's probably silly to go above 15-20, however.)

- Need 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.

- Adding more misc weapon spawns and models across the map. Mostly things like solitary smoke grenades, pistols, rifles and semi-auto rifles. A lot of them will be on 60-sec respawns to prevent abuse. There may even be grenade respawns, although they will be very few and far between.

long as its still possible...

Bob, what benefit (to playability) does the ability to shell bases from across the map bring? And, have people already figured out the coordinates to shell bases from across the map?! I havent played for a few days, but hadnt seen it done up to that point.

Just one of my biggest pet peeves, thats all...

Is second this concern. I would think you'd be doing whatever possible to PREVENT long range shelling. I find it excruciatingly boring to sit in one spot mindlessly shooting off into the distance. Unfortunately, in Barb, if your team wants to win, someone has to do so, so often I do.
Cross map shelling also seperates players into two groups; those that know the magic spots, and those that dont. Skill has nothing to do with it. God help the team that finds itself with fewer players that have the knowlege.
Despite the "no stacking" rule, quite often one team (usually the russians) has FAR more MOB members than the other, due mostly to the fact that on vent, you prefer to talk to team-mates. This already causes team imbalance. Imagine the slaughters that will occur if cross map shelling becomes common. No thanks.
The one spot on barb where cross map shelling is interesting is the Russian center pak. It can hit all the german bases, but is far enough forward and exposed enough that anyone manning it is very vulnerable to attack. It contributes to making that pak a very valuable strategic point. If each side had a vulnerable forward pak that could reach bases, it might be interesting.
The G3 tank scrape in Tuchola is the antithesis of that. It is WAY in the rear, and very easily defended. Should cross map firing solutions become widly known every game will become "attack/defend G3 scrape until russian bases are open, then attack/defend bases". Every game. Because it's the best way to win. A map with a "best way to win" is ALWAYS less interesting to play than a map that can be won many different ways.

I have never seen cross map shelling on Tuchola. I hope I never do. If it becomes anywhere near common, I will consider it a major flaw in what is universally recognised as an outstanding and groundbreaking map.

Bob, why do you think the possibility of cross map shelling will improve the map? I just dont get it!

From a strategic standpoint, the faster you can breach bases, the sooner you can force the opposing team into dedicating some of their scarce resources to defending breached bases. This means your team has to spend less time/effort on defense and can carry the fight to the enemy. For a team that's behind and feeling overwhelmed, it's a good morale builder to breach those enemy bases. Even if nothing else is going right with the offensive, at least bases are getting cracked somewhere.

From the design standpoint, there's always going to be some angle, somewhere that allows long-range shelling with tanks. Tanks are mobile artillery and can be setup anywhere. I can make it more/less difficult (requring the tank to be in a forward position or in an exposed position) but I know I can't stop it without completely arbitrary terrain obstacles. My goal is that one base will be easy to shell (G2 and R3), one will be medium-difficult (G1 and R1) and one will be fiendishly difficult (G3 and R2).

The best I can do is make sure that none of the stationary guns (not including mortars, which are short-range weapons and don't count) can be used to shell enemy bases or spawns. That's why all of the pak guns were adjusted in Beta #2 to limit their field of fire. (I'll need to test this again now that I've moved some terrain and bases... where's Silver?)

Long-range shelling with pak guns is cheap in my book (but I'll use it if it's available because it wins games). It requires simply pointing at a dot on a picture and flailing away. The pak gun never moves, the firing solution never changes, and the weapon is almost always available. As a result, the first shot from a pak gun is almost always on target (if an experienced gunner is at the controls). Plus, the pak guns take down bases in record time (under 3 minutes on Barbarossa).

Long-range shelling with tanks requires a bit more work. First you have to find the tank and move it to the appropriate spot (which can take 30-60 seconds or longer). Second, each type of tank has a different muzzle velocity resulting in higher/flatter shell arcs. Third, most tanks are nowhere near as destructive as the shells from the pak guns. Lastly, it's almost impossible to get a tank into the exact same position as the previous time so there's always a bit of experimentation before the tank gunner finds the firing solution. Depending on which tank is used, bases can take 3-7 minutes to breach.

The big problem with long-range shelling on Barbarossa is that the Russians can use 3 different pak45s to shell all of the German bases. The Germans only have one pak40 that can hit bases, but it's in an exposed position and can only hit R2 and R3. Smolensk was even worse, the Germans could use their 3 pak40s and hit all 3 of the Russian bases with ease. The Russians couldn't get a firing angle on G1 at all and G3 could only be hit if R2 was already breached.

So in summary - long-range shelling with tanks isn't a fight that I'm going to win, other then making it more/less difficult. I have to settle for making sure that the stationary pak guns can't be used to do the job (either spawn shelling like you see on mp_foy or base breaching).

...

Specific goals for ease of long-range shelling for the various bases:

German #1 - This base is probably close to impossible to shell long-range. Except possibly from the South Forest or Hill 13. Which is about right, because it's very easy for Russians to entrench themselves in the rocks and trees on Hill 31 in order to take out the base.

German #2 - This base will probably be easiest to shell long-range. It's also the easiest for the Germans to defend, so it works out.

German #3 - This base is the hardest to shell long-range. Which is good, because I think it's the most interesting base to defend and it should be the one that the Germans try to hold for last. Most of the time, G3 falls not due to long-range shelling but because the Russians get 3+ teammates up there while the Germans attempt to retake the hill with lone-wolf attempts.

Russian #1 - There's not a lot I can do about this base. It is moderately difficult to shell long-range, but it usually falls due to Germans getting tanks and infantry onto Hill 13. There are a few things that I will try to make long-range shelling more difficult.

Russian #2 - This will probably be the hardest base to hit, especially from the G3 hilltop.

Russian #3 - This base used to be the easiest to shell, but is now more difficult in Beta 3. OTOH, it's very easy for Germans to get up into Glacier Pass and shell the R3 base from a location that can't be seen / hit by the R3 pak45.

...

A note on long-range shelling solutions: In CoD:UO, the game-engine works in "steps" rather then a continuous angle when you are pointing a tank gun. Not sure if it's in degrees or in 1024 steps per rotation, but if you watch *very* carefully when aiming you will see the "T" crosshair jump up/down or left/right in discrete steps rather then moving smoothly.

What this means for long-range shelling is that there are numerous times where you have the proper compass heading, but your firing solution is either half a notch too low (hitting ground or obstacles) or half a notch too high (passing over the top of the base). We are talking ZERO error allowed (these firing solutions are extremely tricky).

...

Silver and I were talking firing solutions last night. He had Russian infiltrators on Hill 13 roughly every 3-5 minutes, which played hell with his ability to tell me where my shells were hitting. In addition, I was constantly dealing with local disruptions at the R1 tank scrape which interfered with my long-range shelling.

In some ways, stopping a long-range gunner is similar to finding and stopping the opening offensive. The advantages of attacking a long-range gunner is that they are:

- always in the same position
- they broadcast their position to the world
- they can't move their turret or they'll lose the firing solution
- they are rarely defended by infantry
- all that noise from firing makes them mostly deaf to infantry movement noise

G3 hilltop is extremely easy to infiltrate with the addition of the passages through the trees and the additional foliage and rocks in Beta #2 (slightly more so in Beta #3). Unless the Germans are guarding that G3 tank, that gunner will have a very short lifespan. Plus, a G3 tank camper causes Germans to start spawning at G3, *away* from their tanks in the main spawn.

Another firing position is the R1 tank scrape. This scrape is almost blind against seeing what is going on at Hill 13. It's somewhat easy to sneak up on.

The other major firing position that I know about is the R3 tank scrape and it has it's own share of flaws.


...

Also, I monitor game stats very closely during the beta cycles. I keep very close watch on which side's bases get breached, which side has more success planting, etc. So far, it's been extremely even, but if it starts to tilt one way or the other, I'll start investing time in tilting it back.

(IOW... if you want to screw it up... keep team stacking on the same side all the time and make sure you're breaching more bases then the other side... this means that I'll start adding things to make your enemy's job easier.)

Game balance for Beta #2:

10 days of log files for Beta #2, approximately 241 games (2-3 rounds per game). A game typically lasts 60 minutes.

2207 bases breached (9.2 per game), 1106 by Russians (4.6/game), 1101 by Germans (4.6/game).

2687 plant attempts (11.1 per game), 1333 by Russians (5.5/game), 1354 by Germans (5.6/game)

1588 bases destroyed (6.6/game), 809 by Russians (3.4/game), 779 by Germans (3.2/game)

59.1% chance of success
60.7% chance of success for a Russian plant (in a German base)
57.5% chance of success for a German plant

- Success rate for German plants in Russian bases is a little low... too many {MOB} playing Russians

I as most of you have seen do not play (intentionally) on the sides of the team, I perfer to be the underdog. more comprehensive and they are the better players... which if i fight the better players I become better. none of the firing solutions are easy to get or even to get into position. and TBO its more of a pain in the arse then moving out into the areas. only use for long range shelling is prep for invasion. I can bring down 3 + 2 (BOB dont move 2 its so hard to do now if you change it its gonna be impossible to do.) but with much effort and infty attacks, that ussally get my attention more then anything else. also I wont be showing anyone this... for the barb factor. Dont want every noob doing it, and on top of that it took me an hour just to find one FS now if my tank is not on the exact spot and in the right angle it isnt going to happen. no packs can reach, 1 mortor can reach... the terrain is more suited to infty then tanks and to sit and shell LR is more of a paranoid idiots dream then anything else.

*edit* on most maps:
FOY- which is more fatal then Barb if you have any skill
ITALY- SAA
PONYRI- SAA
RHINEVALLY- HARDER!
can all be hit LR....

only exception is Krusk which can be shelled from 1/2 way accross the map.

LOL! Unsurprisingly, Bob, you have once again thought a subject through FAR moe thoroughly than I have. I now understand and applaud your approach to cross-map shelling.

Thanks for the fast and cogent reply.

Yes, Silver, for the love of god do not post screeny's of where to line up the 'T' target to shell long range!!!




Bob, thanks for the explanation. I'm glad to see that you have thought this out thoroughly, and explored all the angles. I'm not overly concerned with long range tank shelling (if someone has the patience to align themselves to the 'firing solution' then so be it!) - I was more worried about long range pak shelling.

However, I will still disagree with your assessment that blowing bases from afar benefits gameplay. It becomes even more detrimental when shells are launched from across the map into a planted base - giving the opposition no chance to defuse (like we see with Barb).


Just my $0.02. I'm likely not going to be able to play much more anyway, but Tuchola was definitely a blast.

- Identified and fixed pak guns in v098 that could hit enemy bases. (A combination of lowering the firing angle combined with adjustments to terrain along the firing path.)

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

- A few more trees and foliage in places.

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

- Still working on converting all of the remaining road mesh from patch meshes to terrain mesh.

- I keep replacing v098 up on the Test Server, so you may want to keep deleting old versions before you connect again. There will be another one up on the test server tomorrow AM.

- SE Bridge has greater protection from its sandbags.

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

- 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.)

- I still need to replace the tank-eating trench on the S side of G2

- Various bits of alpha blending still need to be fixed

- Still looking for places to add shell craters.

- Still a lot of alpha blending to do and decals to apply.

No playing? R u getting married or what, Cpt.Canuck?

T-B-N

Other notes to myself:

- Need to add a few 3-sided shelters in the farm areas (outbuildings that would be used to shelter livestock, typically open on one side with a sloped roof and a feed trough inside). These can be placed in spots where infantry need more cover and are low on framerate impact.

you ever gonna answer them notes? you know what they say when you answer yourself right?

your never alone!

- Giving up on the idea of making the kerosene lanterns red-tinted, the models don't look right with red light falling upon them.

- Added a trench on the opposite hill (east side) at G2, there is also a pair of tunnels that connect underneath to the W Farm Bunker.

Cool! It was a little hard going up the middle to G2 on foot. This has interersting possibilities!

Looking forward to playing this new version!

(Goes to check out test server)

Wow! That's some trench! I forsee many a pak vs sniper duels there. I also forsee the germans being a little more hesitant to come charging over the hill from the spawn. This is definitely going to be interesting!

- Added victory images (such as they are). Pretty nigh impossible to find the fake(?) german flag used in-game in place of the german swastika flag. Closest that I found was "War Ensign 1935-1938 (Germany)" (a.k.a. de1935~w.gif), but I would have to move the Iron Cross from the upper left field down into the center to replace the swastika. (Yes, I refuse to simply put a swastika flag in...)

- 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.

- Fixed a few more odds-n-ends.

Things left to do before beta #3:

- Finish CTF... I might finish this tomorrow... maybe... if I can decipher it... That new trenchline near G2 makes it a better place to put a CTF flag then before, so I'm happier now with that flag location.

- Finish converting all that road mesh from patch meshes to terrain mesh (ugh ugh ugh... I might have time to watch the entire LOTR extended edition while I do this...).

- Replace the trench on the S side of G2.

- Pin back the treeline on the S side of G2 or cut a hole in the middle of the treeline to allow infantry through.

- Double-check gamestate growth.

- Add those 3-sided shelters in the farm area

- Add three more craters, somewhere...

...

I doubt that I'll get all that done in time for a Monday release, so it may be mid-week until I release Beta #3.

I'm looking forward to Beta #3 as well. I think it fills in some gaps where things were a bit bare. You're going to see a lot of new trees in places where visual detail was pretty low and infantry were a bit too exposed.

The new trench at G2 is going to work both ways for offense/defense. If the Germans use it, G2 gets stronger, but if they don't watch it, it allows Russian infantry easier access to the base.

- Gotta redo the in-game maps for Beta #3...

- Adding a CVAR called "syb_rustlenoise" which controls the random foliage rustling noise. This CVAR defaults to "1" and creates the threads which randomly make foliage noises (and other random noise) across the entire map. Setting this CVAR to anything other then "1" will disable the sounds (and save a few bytes of gamestate).

- Cutting some redundant ammo spawns to save gamestate.

- Shaving off some gamestate in BAS by combining script_brushmodel entitites.

- Trying to track down a flare error that cropped up last night.

Here's a suggestion, Bob: On the map, show path networks with dashed lines; maybe a double dashed line for the tank paths. Sa it stands now, one can see where there are networks of paths, but not where the paths themselves are. Especially counteintuitive is that on the map, trails are covered in trees, and areas inside "walls" show up as bare areas.
I'd be willing to do this if you think it's a good idea, but don't have the time. Let me know.

Yes, I need to texture the inside of treelines with something (which is doable now that portals are finalized). This also will fix an exploit that is currently an issue (but unknown to most folks) where a treeline that is taller on one side then the other allows players to shoot through in one direction but not the other.

Dotted or dashed paths would work. I have the tools, I'll just have to do it when I make the maps for Beta #3.

just wanted to say great maps... both forest and barbarossa. Glad to see APC's, and different tanks. keep it up, any new maps on the way?

I got stuck today here are the screens...don't ask me where it was exactly. I know I jump on the cans and crates there and bam got stuck.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Good find, oNe. I had already moved the barrel in Beta #3 but I'll re-arrange the boxes slightly to prevent that from happening.

...

Dunno what the After-Hourz crew is up to (well... I have rumors), they're the ones that made Barbarossa and Smolensk (and a few others) as well as the vehicles. Pretty sure they're not mapping for CoD:UO anymore. I know at least one of them is very busy in real-life and doesn't have time to play currently.

I'm personally not planning on doing another map for CoD:UO any time soon. This one has consumed 3 months of my life so far (30-60 hours per week) and I have other things I want to do with all that time this summer (such as playing my map)! There are a few other members who have talked about starting up their own mapping projects.

A closer measure of gamestate for BAS between Beta #2 and Beta #3.

25466 - Beta2
26068 - Beta3 (Apr 25 preview)
25834 - Beta3 (Apr 30 preview)
25771 - Beta3 (Apr 30 preview), +set syb_rustlenoise 0

So the (8) foliage noise threads are very lightweight. And I shaved ~180-240 bytes of gamestate by combining some script_brushmodels in Base Assault.

I've been through the map a few more times, I'm not really finding any spots where I can delete script_models, ammo/weapon spawns or vehicles. There may be ~4 spawn points that I can eliminate from Base Assault to save another 60 bytes.

CTF despises me... (and the tutorial really isn't very clear).

Maybe this latest compile will work. CTF is probably the 2nd hardest to setup because of all of the relations between the various elements that need to occur. BAS was actually easy in retrospect (just tedious) with DOM being probably the worst due to the extremely picky nature of the DOM.GSC code.

hole....

This is the pak gun where the wall is going to be removed from directly behind the gunner. (Too easy for a splash-damage kill.)



An old picture of the G3 tank scrape.



A score from the 26th of April with the {MOB} members at the top of the scoreboard.

?

Hole noted, not fixed yet. Gonna take another shot at fixing CTF tonight...

Gamestate precludes doing anything else fancy to the map, especially during Base Assault matches. Which means no big weapons cache (15 bytes of gamestate for every piece of ammo or weapon across the map). No chance of adding destroyable bridges either (which I think would've been sweet). No launching the V2 rockets either.

Still trying to shave a bit more gamestate off but I don't expect to find more then 100 bytes of gamestate that I can recover.

- I'm pretty sure I can whack two spawn locations from each team's central spawn area with ease. That saves 4x15 bytes.

- I've considered removing the 6 spawn points in the basements of the bases, but that means only a single spawn in each base which is tactically limiting.

- Can't cut any vehicles...

- Might be able to cut 2 or 3 more weapon spawns. Those binocs at the radio huts are probably going to be casualties. Each spawn that I delete saves another 15 bytes.

- The two dynamic effects (raindrops and foliage noise) are already tunable with a CVar. I'll rework the GSC code so that those two CVars aren't required for default settings.

...

My kingdom for a 1.52 patch that would raise Gamestate even a little bit (to 48KB)...

could you eliminate an area of the map by extending a tree line to cut off alittle of the german 1 area were it ducks out a little?

?

Might make G1 too easy to defend (the depth of that area SW of G1 allows the Russians to entrench themselves around G1 if the Germans didn't stop them earlier). Somewhat similar to the difficult that Russians have due to the Glacier Pass and Hill 13.

For those awaiting CTF on this map... I will be putting v098 up on the test server (70.42.41.170) in an hour or two from now and changing it over to run CTF 24/7.

You've got about 24 hours to get me feedback on the flag locations. I *have* to finalize Beta 3 today and tomorrow due to travel plans next week. (If I don't get Beta 3 out in the next day or two it will be 2 weeks until I can release it.)


One balance thing that might be needed for CTF is to turn off the G2 pak40 and the R2 pak45. This can be done in the server config file by admins, so I'm waiting to see what the feedback is from CTF players.

(CTF isn't something I play a lot of, so I'm at the mercy of feedback from regular CTF players.)