Minor enhancements

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BinarySpike
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Minor enhancements

Post by BinarySpike »

Ok got a few minor enhancements ideas...

Moving Message Prompt
Effect:When you hit a button to start typing a message (n m , . z) instead of the prompt appearing below radar and info box, it appears above them.

Reason I want it: I have a monitor when it turns on and is "cold" it will be warped, and if I leave it it will get better. But if I change it and it starts getting "warm" it will warp. Eventually the message prompt disappears and I have to quit bzflag either way to get the screen fixed (I have to use a control panel)


Port menu's to text files and allow downloading
Effect:Turn menu's (main menu, display options, gui options) into text files, so they can be directly edited. Allow for downloading of other menu's that have basic access, load them as so /menu MyOptions those could contain options you edit a lot. And have menu's that might change other things like UDP.

Reason I want it Several reasons why I want this, I know we all turn a specific feature on and off a lot (me it's textures, lighting etc. etc.)


Recatagorize /set'able variables with a seperate permission
Effect /set _map specific variables have one permission and /set _server specific variables have a different permission and catagorized differently

Reason I want it Admins could change map specific settings (_noClimb) to enhance map, while they can't touch other settings (_noSmallPackets) or similar. Only Server Owners could. At the same time, server owners couldn't change map specific settings.


Flag Idea
Flag: Rear View Mirror (RV?)
Effect Put's a rear view mirror on your tank.


Flag Idea
Flag: Flash Bang (FB)
Effect A bullet that if it gets to close to a tank it "flashes" them and ends. It would basically make them blind on the HUD (turn everything white) And it fades away.
footnote I didn't know at the time there was one on the Wiki named Flash Bang, and is completely unrelated to that. Idea from A Meteorite!!!


Flag Idea
Flag: EMP Pulse (EM)
Effect Same bullet idea as Flash Bang, but "Jams" the radar. Bullet gets to close to tank, bang. Their radar Jitters for a set amount of time. This is a great counter-flag for dodging.
I got this idea from FlashBang, FB was A Meteorites idea.


Teleporter Boundry "Viewing"
I still think this is awesome... here's a picture of what I mean
http://www.flickr.com/photos/binaryspike/351174124/
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Not sure what that would do to FPS.
(let alone if it would screw culling up...)

*edit* cleaned post up, removed signature (accidentally removed kudos to A Meteorite)
*edit* fixed FB flag so credit goes to A Meteorite
Last edited by BinarySpike on Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Grace F
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Post by Grace F »

I like your flag ideas, the EMP and the FB. The RV on the other hand, I dont think it's needed since with the radar and all.

The teleport, I don't understand what it is, does that show where your to be teleported to? If that is then that's awesome! :D

I don't think I fully understood the other things you said so im not going to respond to them :P
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Post by Saber »

Theteleporter idea looks cool but it would ask less skills to kill someone trought a teleporter only with the radar.
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Post by BinarySpike »

More idea's:
In Phantom zone, objects should be partially transparent. And the HUD should be jittery, (like whenever Frodo puts on the ring in Lord Of the Rings movies) I saw a non-shader way tutorial a while back that did that. Not to mention a junkload of flash tutorials for that. I don't know the effect this would have on framerate.


EMP and FlashBang bullets should be viewed differently out the HUD and maybe even on radar?


Radar should have less accuracy. :arrow: Veterans play by only using radar, that's why ST is such a useful flag IMO. I think HUD and Radar should be evened out a little. What I mean is have it update less, so it's not "on time" have things lag a little? idk... just an idea.

Grace F wrote:The teleport, I don't understand what it is, does that show where your to be teleported to? If that is then that's awesome! Very Happy
Yeah... The best name I could think of was Teleporter view clipping (which isn't at all cool)
I don't know the effect on framerate this would have.
Grace F wrote:I like your flag ideas, the EMP and the FB. The RV on the other hand, I dont think it's needed since with the radar and all.
FB idea kudos goto A Meteorite. As for RV, what about ST's? you can't see ST on radar so being able to see behind you would help a lot. CL wouldn't appear in the mirror btw.
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Post by dango »

RV you can already do: bzflag -view stereo
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Post by BinarySpike »

Been thinking about EMP Pulse, this would be a powerful flag against dodgers.

Also been thinking about rendering, I want it to shoot like a normal bullet but be like white and have like zaps coming out of it... What do you guys think?
(on low detail settings it would be white/bluish)


Me1
No as a HUD enhancement.
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Post by dango »

there wouldn't really be a use, since people can already do it without a flag...
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Post by BinarySpike »

Been thinking more about EMP pulse... what if it made a buzzing sound or a ka-zap sound when you fired it? huh? sound cool?
me1 wrote:there wouldn't really be a use, since people can already do it without a flag...
People that know how. Isn't that a little advantageous for some people?
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Post by Enigma »

me1 wrote:RV you can already do: bzflag -view stereo
This doesn't work for me.

Code: Select all

devin$ /users/devin/bzflag/src/bzflag/bzflag -directory /users/devin/bzflag/data -view stereo
Could not set Video Mode: Failed creating OpenGL pixel format.
Error creating window - Exiting
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Post by BinarySpike »

Slayer++
Stereo only works on certain... um... video cards?

I'm not sure, I remember reading a post a while back about stereo view only working on certain computers. I'm not sure if it's video card based, or OS/Driver based.
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Re: Minor enhancements

Post by Skeeve »

BinarySpike wrote:Moving Message PromptReason I want it: I have a monitor when it turns on and is "cold"
Did I get you right? An enhancement just that you can cope with your defect monitor!? Get honest! If you want it, there is always CVS and the possibility to compile BZ.
BinarySpike wrote:Port menu's to text files and allow downloading
If I understood this right, you want to edit some textfile to change your settings? Did you know that there is a config file where you can change even more than the in-game menus offer?
BinarySpike wrote:Teleporter Boundry "Viewing"
That one looks great. But it makes things a bit too easy, e.g. when shooting others through the teleporter.
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Post by L4m3r »

Having a viewport through teles has been discussed and brings up some interesting issues.

First off, there's the technical aspect of everything. I'd think that such a thing would be rather tricky on the rendering end, and I've never seen it in a full 3D game. What about cases in which you can see a tele through another tele? would the viewport show there too? that could possibly open up an infinite-recursive case, which would be bad...

This would also have to be optional, but implementing it would make it pretty easy to cheat. However, I think that could be recitified by moving teleporter links to the server side. If the server wants people to use viewports, it can notify them of the links in advance. If not, it could only notify them as they begin to pass through a tele.

IMO, moving the links to the server would be a good idea anyway. it'd open up some possibilities to the API, like team-specific destinations for teleporters.
Optimism is just a milder alternative to denial.
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Re: Minor enhancements

Post by BinarySpike »

Skeeve wrote: If I understood this right, you want to edit some textfile to change your settings? Did you know that there is a config file where you can change even more than the in-game menus offer?
Nononononononono, port the "loading" of the menus to text files, not pure source-code creation. And maybe even allow downloading them from servers (for settings users might want to change per-server)

This would allow for easier editing of the menu system. Because of this dynamic it would open even more GUI possibilities.
L4m3r wrote:Having a viewport through teles has been discussed and brings up some interesting issues.
Yes I posted that picture a while back. JeffM2501 and I discussed

L4m3r wrote:First off, there's the technical aspect of everything. I'd think that such a thing would be rather tricky on the rendering end, and I've never seen it in a full 3D game. What about cases in which you can see a tele through another tele? would the viewport show there too? that could possibly open up an infinite-recursive case, which would be bad...
Tricky sure, but worth it IMO. I've seen similar things in other games.
As for the recursive stuff; Octree-depth, it's how 3D raytracers handle mirrors. I would say a max of 3.
L4m3r wrote:IMO, moving the links to the server would be a good idea anyway. it'd open up some possibilities to the API, like team-specific destinations for teleporters.
Actually I thought teleporter links were server side for a *really* long time.
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Re: Minor enhancements

Post by L4m3r »

BinarySpike wrote:Actually I thought teleporter links were server side for a *really* long time.
I remember having been told otherwise at some point. I haven't looked at the code myself, honestly.
Optimism is just a milder alternative to denial.
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Re: Minor enhancements

Post by BinarySpike »

I got all but the rendering of EMP Pulse done. I added four variables here's an explanation (When rendering is done I'll post a patch)

_empActivationTime, exactly like _gmActivationTime, means pulses won't activate till that time (I think default around 1.5 seconds and 2 seconds is good)

_empRange same as _shotRange (I might just use _shotRange)
_empSpeed same as _shotSpeed (I might just use _shotSpeed)

_empRadius default is 60 (same as _shockOutRadius)
This is the "effected area" like an invisible shockwave

_empFactor the factor at which it effects within it's radius, default is gonna be around 1.25
Aka if you are on very edge at a factor of 1 nothing happens, if you are slightly inside then it might flash occasionally... I made the factor because a factor of 1 is not enough "jamming" 2 is slightly to much, but I still have to play around with the settings to find the defaults that are best.

Note: JeffM2501 told me about shotTypes, currently EMP Pulse only works on point based shot types, I intend to make a handler for point, shockwave, and line based shot types.

This will make laser based EMP shots *extremely* powerful.

(I have a video of EMP but it's... choppy and horrible detail and 20mb, I can't get S.U.P.E.R. to convert it from avi to mov)
L4m3r wrote:
BinarySpike wrote:Actually I thought teleporter links were server side for a *really* long time.
I remember having been told otherwise at some point. I haven't looked at the code myself, honestly.
It's client side, I just thought for a really long time it was server side.
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Post by that exploding tank »

Would the EMP and the FlashBang be able to "block" GM shots? If so, it would be an extremely useful anti-GM flag other than ST.
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Post by BinarySpike »

That Exploding Tank
Technically FlashBang wouldn't be able to.

Either way I don't think it would fly over with the devs though.
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Post by Kesnar »

Nice ideas(all of them).
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Re: Minor enhancements

Post by macsforme »

BinarySpike wrote:Recatagorize /set'able variables with a seperate permission
Effect /set _map specific variables have one permission and /set _server specific variables have a different permission and catagorized differently

Reason I want it Admins could change map specific settings (_noClimb) to enhance map, while they can't touch other settings (_noSmallPackets) or similar. Only Server Owners could. At the same time, server owners couldn't change map specific settings.
Yes, definitely could go for something like this. Some of my admins (with the SETVAR perm) could use a little bit of restriction on what they variables they can set. *winks at Benji* ;-)

EDIT: er, oops, guess I didn' read your post carefully. Anyway, good idea.
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Post by BinarySpike »

Constitution
Basically that's the point
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Post by Hannibal »

Binary, why not allow server owners to change map settings? That seems stupid.
Games don't make people violent, lag does.
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Post by A Meteorite »

Hannibal wrote:Binary, why not allow server owners to change map settings? That seems stupid.
That is why the permissions are separated: to let the server owners decide who can set what.
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Post by BinarySpike »

I changed the name from EMP Pulse to EMP Pulse Cannon. abbreviation is still EP. Changed rendering a little, still a little stumped how render nodes and effects work, but with quarter/golf ball sized hail and flash flood/tornado warnings I have been preocupied today.
(we had a tornado sighting 22.7 miles north of here, moving away... *whew*)


Hannibal
Dude you took it way to literal. Lets say you have a retro server owner who likes retro maps. And along comes a guy who hosts on his server a very new map. So along comes a player who doesn't like the newishness of the map and tells the server owner. Well the server owner is bias and might change something at the players recommendation, screwing the map up.

Or vice-versa, let's say a server owner doesn't want to let non-owners change server/network variables.

Let's say you have a /set happy cop/admin, you don't want him changing map specific variables, but you might want him to be able to set _noSmallPackets (whatever that does)

You get it?

I want to go farther though, I want to make *several* catagories, each having their own perms.

World/weather variables, server/network variables, flag/effect variables, physic variables, plugin variables (I'm not sure if plugins can register variables but they should be able to IMO)
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