MultiTeam CTF 2 Beta 5 (Version 190) Documentation

The Regular HUD

There are only two main changes that MultiTeam CTF makes to the Unreal Tournament HUD:
- The ENEMY TEAM indicator in the upper left corner. This indicates what team your bots are going after.
- If a flag is being carried, the name of the person carrying the flag is displayed in the color of that person's team above the flag's icon (on the right of the screen). If the option Omniscience is enabled, then the zone that the carrier is in will also be displayed.

Also, if a team is eliminated and can no longer score points, that team's flag's icon disappears.

The One Flag Mode HUD

In the One Flag Mode HUD, the Enemy Team display has been replaced by the One Flag display. This shows the current condition of the One Flag. If it is held, the icon appears in the color of the holder's team, and the holder's name appears over the flag. If the option Omniscience is enabled, the zone that the flag is in will also be displayed.
Also, the flag display on the right of the screen is replaced by the team symbols. If a team symbol is not present, that team has been eliminated from play.

All of the game options for MultiCTF can be accessed by clicking on the RULES tab in the practice session window.

- Tournament, Weapon Stay, and Time Limit are the same as in regular Unreal Tournament matches.

- Score Limit - this is the point total that a team must reach before it has lost the game. If set to zero, the game will continue until the time limit is reached.

- Max Teams - this is the maximum number of teams allowed in the game. When a regular CTF map is used, only two teams will be present, no matter what the setting is here. Max Teams must be a value from 2 to 4.

To change the MultiTeam CTF rules, click on the Configure MCTF Rules button. The rules are described in the following three sections.

With none of the rules checked, the game will simply be a straightforward match where nothing special happens when flags are captured and nothing happens once a team has reached the score limit. In other words, teams that are above the score limit can still capture flags and be captured on.

The rules are detailed below:

- One Flag Mode - activates One Flag Mode.

- Omniscience - The zone that a flag is in is displayed above the flag. Some maps do not support this feature.

- Flag Elimination - A team that has reached the score limit will no longer have a flag! That team can no longer capture flags or be captured on.

- Team Elimination - A team that reaches the score limit is eliminated. The players can continue playing, but once they are killed they become spectators. Note that activating this will also activate Flag Elimination.

- Rejoin Teams - A team that reaches the score limit is eliminated. The players on that team, once killed, automatically join another team and continue playing. Note that activating this will also activate Team Elimination.

- Carry Flags Back - Flags must be carried back to their original position before they are returned.

- Multi-Flag Caps - Players can carry (and capture!) more than one flag at a time.

- Sudden Death Mode - Once one team hits the score limit, the team with the lowest score immediately wins.

- No Overtime - when a game is over and two teams are tied for lowest (only can occur when Sudden Death is enabled or a time limit is set), the game will immediately end. The team with the lowest score and the highest total individual Player Scores will win.

- Random Placement - Teams' positions on the map are randomized. While this can be confusing, it is helpful in keeping things fair on asymmetric maps.

- Heavy Bot Defense - bots go heavier on defense. More details in the BOTS section.

- Random Enemies - the enemy teams are randomized.

- Reward Captures - enable the rewards configured in the REWARDS menu (below).

- Enable Crazy Options - enable the options in the CRAZY menu (below).

- LMS Mode - this option only affects multiplayer games. Whenever a team is out, new players can no longer join the server as active players. Instead, they are spectators until the next game starts.

- Smart Bots - bot teams will work together if they share a common target team (detailed in the BOTS section). Bots will also not attack humans with whom they share the same target team as often - in short, teams will try to work together to put other teams out. Note that this option can lead to abuse by humans, who can often get free kills on bots that they were supposed to be working together with.

The setup is pretty straightforward. The rows are the rewards; the columns are the number of flags that must be captured at once for a reward to be given. 'Return' means that a reward is given whenever someone returns their own flags, '1' means that someone is given a reward for one flag capture, '2' means they are given a reward for two flag captures at once, and '3' means they get rewarded for capturing three flags at once.

In One Flag mode, people who capture the flag get the rewards listed under '1'.

The rewards are self-explanatory, except for Full Health, Full Ammo, and Subtract Point.

- Full Health - this reward heals a player up to 100 health.

- Full Ammo - a player gets full ammo in all of their weapons except for the Redeemer.

- Subtract Point - the player's team gets one point taken away!

Example: If Full Health, Shield Belt, and Subtract point are checked under '2', then if I capture 2 flags at once my team loses a point, and I get 100 health and a shieldbelt!

The crazy options are not recommended in most circumstances - they are mostly there just because I thought it would be interesting for a mod to have them. They are -

- Take Own Flag - Players can take their own flag from the home base.

- Flag Translocations - Players can translocate without dropping flags.

- Reward Pickups - Players who pick up a flag get rewarded as if they'd captured as many flags as they're carrying.

- Full Ammo = Loaded - players who are rewarded with Full Ammo (in the REWARDS menu) get all the regular Unreal Tournament weapons (except the Redeemer) and full ammo for all of them. This option may cause problems when using weapon mutators.

A lot of work went into the MultiTeam CTF bots to make them play as intelligently as possible. I will attempt here to explain how the bots work. All said and done, I tried to make the bots play well so that single player games would be almost as fun as multiplayer games.

First, the Enemy Team. Bots will always go after their enemy team and just their enemy team, since having a team coordinate attacks against a single team is the easiest way to capture a flag. The bots attack the enemy team base in the same way that they do in regular capture the flag. Bot teams will select enemy teams based on several criteria, in this order:

1. If the Enemy Team has been set by a human, the bots will go after that team.
2. If Random Enemies is enabled, bots will go after a randomly selected team.
3. If there is a time limit and the Score Limit is 0, the bots will go after the team with the lowest score.
4. If Sudden Death is enabled, losing teams will go after the team with the lowest score. The winning team will go after the team with the highest score in order to get them out.
5. Otherwise, bots will go after the next team in color order.

The way the bots go after flags is the following:

- Bots go after the Enemy Team's flag.
- If a bot is close to any flag that is dropped, it will go to pick them up.
- If a bot sees someone with its own flag, it will try to kill them and take the flag.
- If a bot has a flag, its team is over the Score Limit, and the reward Subtract Point is enabled, the bot will try to get more flags so that its team can get back into the game.

Additionally, if Smart Bots is enabled, bots will not attack others carrying flags (unless they are carrying the bot's flag), nor will they attack others who have the same enemy team. However, bots will still attack humans in these conditions a little bit of the time, especially if the human attacks them. Humans should take special care to notice what teams are helping them out.

If Heavy Bot Defense is enabled, more bots will defend then normal. Normally, bots have an attacker:defender ratio of 2:1. Heavy Bot Defense changes that ratio to 1:2.

The One Flag Mode AI is a little different. Bots in one flag mode will go from base to base looking for the flag. If they get a flag, they will try to bring it to the nearest base of a team that is still in the game. If another player gets the flag and the bots do not know where it is, they will go back to base to defend against a possible attack. If Smart Bots is enabled, bots will always know where the flag is.

The console commands for MultiTeam CTF are
- mutate SetEnemyXXXX where XXX is the color of the desired Enemy Team. Once set by this command, the enemy team will stay the same until changed by a human again or the Enemy Team becomes invalid (too high a score).
- mutate ThrowFlag throws all carried flags. Useful for giving a flag to a teammate so that they can capture multiple flags at once!

These commands can be bound to keys in the CONTROLS section of the main PREFERENCES menu (shown below).

To run a MultiCTF server, you must have the following line in your UnrealTournament.ini file (or whichever .ini file you use):

ServerPackages=MultiCTF

Otherwise, running a MultiCTF server should be relatively easy. There are several options I suggest, however, given in the SUGGESTIONS section.

Making a MultiTeam CTF map is simple. Make a good 4-way CTF map with four standard flagbases. Then set the flagbases' teams to 0,1,2, and 3. 0 = red, 1 = blue, 2 = green, 3 = gold. Make appropriate DefensePoints, prefix the map name CTFM-, and you're set!

However, MultiTeam CTF has a number of new map objects that mappers can use to really make playing MultiCTF on their map much more interesting. The list of new objects is below. Most are also used in CTFM-TestRoom][ (which, incidentally, I made to test out and showcase the new map objects).

-MCTFFlagBase (Parent is FlagBase). A leftover from previous versions this is here simply to make MultiCTF backwards-comparible with old maps. Don't put any of these in maps.

-MCTFKillFlagZone (Parent = ZoneInfo). Whenever a flag, whether a person is carrying it or not, enters this zone the flag is automatically sent home. Useful if a designer wants to make a flag holder leave a base a certain way.

-MCTFTeamOnlyTrigger (Parent = Trigger). A trigger only activatable by the team designated, unlike the original TeamTrigger, which only can be triggered by a pawn not on the designated team. Good for team-only doors.

-MCTFTeamOutTrigger (Parent = Triggers). Much like a dispatcher, only it is called whenever the designated team reaches the score limit and Team Elimination is enabled. Useful for cutting off bases after a team is out.

-MCTFScoredOnTrigger (Parent = Triggers). Similar to a dispatcher in setup. There is an array of events, each of which is called only when the designated team reaches a designated percentage of the Score Limit. Useful to activate traps, open rooms, etc. to help a team out when it is getting scored on.

-MCTFTranslocatorInfo (Parent = Info). When this is added to a level, Translocators can be forced on or off, regardless of the server settings. Useful for levels where having/not having translocators would make capturing flags too easy or hard.

-MCTFUnblockedPath (Parent = BlockedPath) This is a pathnode that acts as a regular pathnode until triggered, at which point bots will no longer use that path. Exactly the opposite of the BlockedPath navigationpoint.

All of the original CTF objects, like Alternate Paths, Blocked Paths, and Defense Points, all work the same as before.

The MultiTeam CTF Mutators allow greater access to gameplay than regular mutators. Look at the MultiCTF code, and subclass any mutators off of MCTFBaseMutator. The new functions are listed there, but I will paste the code here as well for reference. You will need the following line in your UnrealTournament.ini file:

EditPackages=MultiCTF

NOTE that you should NOT call NextMutator for ANY of these functions!!

class MCTFBaseMutator expands Mutator;

//////////////////////////////////
/////// Game Functions
/////////////////////////////////

// called when a team is out and when Team Elimination is on.
// OutTeam is the team number of the team that is out:
// 0 = red, 1 = blue, 2 = green, 3 = gold
function TeamOut(byte OutTeam) {}

// Once all the accounting for flag captures is complete, this function is called.
function AllFlagsScored(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn Scorer, byte TotalFlags) {}

// when the game is over and a winner has been decided, this is called.
function GameOver(int WinningTeam) {}

/////////////////////////////////////
/////// Regular MCTF Flag Functions
/////////////////////////////////////

// called when a flag is sent home for whatever reason.
// theFlag is the flag that was sent home, OldHolder is the former flag holder.
// NOTE: OldHolder can be none!
function FlagSentHome(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn OldHolder) {}

// called when someone drops a flag. theFlag is the dropped flag,
// OldHolder is the former flag holder.
function FlagDropped(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn OldHolder) {}

// called when someone takes their own flag off of the flagbase.
// theFlag is the taken flag, NewHolder is the guy who grabbed his own flag.
function OwnFlagTakenFromBase(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn NewHolder) {}

// called whenever a flag is taken off of the base normally.
// theFlag is the taken flag, NewHolder is the person who took it.
function OtherFlagTakenFromBase(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn NewHolder) {}

// called when someone picks up their own flag off of the ground.
function OwnFlagPickedUp(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn NewHolder) {}

// called when someone picks someone else's flag off of the ground.
function OtherFlagPickedUp(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn NewHolder) {}

// called when someone returns their own flag - whether by bringing it
// back home or by touching it and returning it.
function OwnFlagReturned(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn Scorer) {}

// called every time someone captures a flag.
// If someone caps multiple flags, this function is called for each of those flags.
// Not called for flag returns.
function OtherFlagScored(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn Scorer) {}

////////////////////////////////////////
////// One Flag Mode Flag Functions
////////////////////////////////////////

// called when the one flag moves to a new postition, from either being captured,
// dropped into a damage zone, or sitting around too long.
// NOTE that OldHolder can be none!!
function OneFlagSentHome(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn OldHolder) {}

// called once the OneFlag is brought to an opponent's flagbase.
function OneFlagScored(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn Scorer) {}

// if the oneflag is dropped this is called.
function OneFlagDropped(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn OldHolder) {}

// when the oneflag is picked up, this is called.
function OneFlagGrabbed(MultiCTFFlag theFlag, Pawn NewHolder) {}

After LOTS of playtesting, coding, answering questions, etc. I have a pretty good idea of how this mod works in most situations - and what to do if you want to win.

The KEY factor is defense. By not telling your bots to defend, the first few bots on your team will go on offense, leaving nobody at home guarding the flag (if you go on offense). Not good. Make sure someone stays at home at all times. If you have lots of points, up the number of defenders on your team.

Another important thing to remember is picking the best Enemy Team. Keep in mind what options are on - Flag Elimination, Team Elimination, etc. If you can get a team off of your back by scoring on them, do it!

While throwing flags may not seem too important, it has three good uses:
1. Giving a teammate (who also has a flag) another flag. He can then get the reward for more than one flag - PARTICULARLY important if Point Subtraction is on!
2. Throwing your flag off of the map. If carry flags back is on, and you're on Face 4 and you're not gonna make it back to base to return your flag, ensure that it goes home by tossing it over the edge. Jumping off works too, but sometimes you can't even make it that far before being gunned down.
3. By throwing the flag somewhere inaccessible or hidden, you can protect the flag for 60 seconds (until it is automatically sent home). Also, you can do 'short translocations' by throwing the flag up somewhere and then translocating and grabbing the flag. Handy.

Keep it in mind if Smart Bots is on - if so, don't kill bots just because they're on other teams! They'll help you get out a common enemy.

For servers: I personally like relatively quick games. I often set a time limit between 5 and 10 minutes and a Score Limit of zero to keep games quick and simple. Remember that in online play people want to be playing most of the time, and that epic struggles games aren't fun every game. So keep the score limit not too high. But this is my suggestion, do what you will!

My favorite options to have enabled are the following:
Smarter Bots, Carry Flags Back, Multi-Flag Caps, No Overtime, Random Enemies, and Reward Captures (I have the rewards set up the way they appear in the picture in the Rewards Section). These are my personal preferences, but of course anything goes!

MultiTeam Capture the Flag took about eight months to develop fully, and lots of hard work on my part. This is basically a one-man mod! The feedback and interest I have recieved have well exceeded my expectations. The UT community is great! I hope you greatly enjoy the mod. MultiCTF was built for fun - try using all of the options and see what kind of games you can play!!

And now, here are all the cool people who beta tested for MCTF! Without these guys' input, MultiCTF would be absolutely nowhere. My personal thanks goes out to:

Ace_3000, Action Hank, Agent248, Agent Orange, Area 51, Berzerker, Bretai [DPW], Chris Pandolfo, Ciparis[FAT], Csuthy Andras, Dark Defender, Dirk Forsterling, Disposable_Hero, Donald Noordt, Ebonite[DPW], E.R.N., Farid Hamidouche, Goyim_Smasher, Hamburger_Pimp, Hendrik Vermeylen, jAcKhAmMeR, Jay, Jeffery Russel, Jim Montz, John Phillips, Josh Spencer, Kim Gellet, Keith Malinowski, Leigh Makewell, Lister of Smeg, Ludovic, MADMAXQUINN, MarczoiereY, Menno Lodder, milliByte, Moo, Nero, Nightmare, Nina Batina, Nocrutis, Pazarius, Qaisar, Rene Jacobson, Ronald Steinkellner, Schnieder Alexander, Sean Sexton, [ZB]_Sephiroth_, {BIO}Solomon, Spicy, The_Stranger, TechnoArcher, Telarium-Y2K, Tolle, Toter, Wing_Zero, Zan .

Here are the great mappers who made MultiCTF maps:

CTFM-Ancient, CTFM-BurningHot, CTFM-Random, and CTFM-Small: Death Circus
CTFM-Catacomb and CTFM-GlassBang: Jasper 'Weenydog' Lodder
CTFM-CruxCitadel and CTFM-CrystalPower: The Shadow
CTFM-CrypTitan: TheSpoonDog
CTFM-Deck16][, CTFM-HyperBlast, and CTFM-Mazon: _Lord'Coloth
CTFM-FireIceSlimeBullet: [DMF]ABU5E
CTFM-InstaMayhem: [MK]Annihilator (wherever you are)
CTFM-Lavaforme, CTFM-MorTal, CTFM-Tutorial][, and CTFM-SlimeRotor: Crokx
CTFM-LavaGiant][: Dark Defender
CTFM-MetalDream: Rens2Sea
CTFM-Sphere: SlayerA

Thanks, Bob-Dog, for some MCTF textures!
Other textures in the MultiCTFTex.utx package were compiled from the levels mentioned above - each texture there is prefixed with the name of the level it was originally packaged with.

I also gotta give mad credit to UCLASSES, UMODWIZ, and EMACS for helping me out in the creation process, and the boyz at PLANETUNREAL for hosting my site.

If you think you deserve credit and you were left off of this list, email me and tell me what's up!

MCTF2 Beta 5 (Version 190):
Release Date: February 10, 2001
-Made the menus prettier.
-Further improved smart bot target selection - now bots will rarely attack friendly humans on other teams.
-Subtract Point works like other rewards
-Fixed a bug when MaxTeams = 3
-Now thrown flags go in the direction you're facing
-Take own flag always works RIGHT
-Fixed a bug where teams with nobody on them could win
-Changed back to not being able to see a score if nobody is on a team
-Improved Messaging
-Fixed KillFlagZones leaving flags in limbo if holder had multiple flags
-Added 'Omniscience' option and ability to see flags' locations
-Made the scoreboard better
-Fixed a bug with LMS Mode in single player
-Added support for new MCTF Mutator functions
-Fixed OneFlagMode AI for TeamScore = 0
-Took MCTF-Testroom][ out of the MultiCTF package
-Combined more textures into the MultiCTFTex.utx package

MCTF2 Beta 4 (Version 180):
Release Date: December 10, 2000
-The name of someone who has the flag is now displayed over the flag in the color of their team.
-Fixed Take Own Flag / Reward Returns bug (Thanks Zan)
-Spectators of eliminated teams can now see from anyone's point of view
-Added rejoin teams option
-Added MultiCTF Mutator support
-Fixed a bug where flags were being sent home multiple times
-Fixed HUGE bugs when the Score Limit was set to 0 (thanks Rene Jacobson!)
-Improved One Flag Mode AI
-Added Score Subtraction under the Rewards menu
-Fixed a bug in LMS mode - now if all humans have left the game, the game restarts. (Thanks Ciparis[FAT])
-Changed "Omniscient Bots" option to "Smart Bots" - and changed the AI accordingly.
-Added No Overtime option.
-Added Random Enemy Team option
-Fixed other minor bugs.

MCTF2 Beta 3 (Version 170):
Release Date: November 26, 2000
-You can now see multiple flags on people who have more than one flag!
-Fixed a 'feature' where if you had Take Own Flag and Reward Pickups enabled that you could take your own flag and get all beefed up with rewards. (Thanks Goyim_Smasher)
-Started giving credit to the people who've helped since version 1! Sorry for not doing it sooner guys!
-Changed the MultiCTF map prefix from MCTF to CTFM.

MCTF2 Beta 2 (Version 160):
Release Date: November 17, 2000
-Completely did away with the necessity of the MCTFFlagBase class.
-Maps can now have less than 4 flags and everything should be fine.
-All the messages now work correctly!
-Bots now return their own flag right away!
-Added a little 'recognition' system to the scoreboard displaying who has the most frags, flag kills, flag captures, and flag returns.
-Added the MCTFUnblockedPath class so now mapmakers can block paths and the bots understand it.
-Added a new crazy option: Full ammo = loaded.
-Added Heavy Bot Defense option.
-Added LMS join option.
-Really souped up the rewards menu.
-Got rid of the MCTF with CTF maps gametype.

MCTF2 Beta 1 (Version 150):
Release Date: November 10, 2000
-Added new menus all over the place.
-Added about 10 new game options
-Added the option Single Flag Mode.
-Added support for CTF, CTF+ and CTF4 maps with the new Gametype MCTF with CTF maps.
-Further improved Bot AI.

Version 115:
Release Date: October 21, 2000
-Official release version of MultiTeam CTF.
-Added code so now bots will pick up any flag if they're close enough. Should greatly improve bots' actions.
-Added code so bots will not particularly go after people on other teams who have flags that are not the bot's enemy team's. (If that makes sense).
-Added code so that TeamOutTriggers are triggered if a team is not in a game (e.g. the Gold Team's MCTFTeamOutTrigger is triggered at the beginning of a game with only three teams).
-Finished MCTF-TestRoom][!

Version 110:
Release Date: October 13, 2000
-Added a MultiTeam CTF Tab to the Unreal Tournament browser window.
-Changed the MCTFTrigger types to work all the time now... (I hope)
-Other minor fixes to the code

Version 100:
Release Date: October 1, 2000
-First release of MultiCTF online!