there is a Random spawnpoint mutator available

[Wises]

installed successfully and working well.. thank you mate very much appreciated

now we wait and see what happens

[Feralidragon]

Sorry to be a bummer, but I don't like those odds, here:

Code: Select all

function ModifyPlayer(Pawn Other)
{
local UTTeleportEffect TelEff;
local vector oldPLoc;

	Super.ModifyPlayer(Other);

	oldPLoc = Other.Location;
	If (Other.SetLocation(SpawnLocs[Rand(SpawnLocCount)]))
	{
		foreach RadiusActors(class'UTTeleportEffect', TelEff, 20.0, oldPLoc) { TelEff.Destroy(); } ;
		Level.Game.PlayTeleportEffect(Other, True, True);
	}
}

That should work, but I think this will also, and is even simpler:

Code: Select all

function ModifyPlayer(Pawn Other)
{
   local UTTeleportEffect TelEff;

   Super.ModifyPlayer(Other);

   foreach RadiusActors(class'UTTeleportEffect', TelEff, 20.0, Other.Location) { TelEff.Destroy(); } ;

   Other.SetLocation(SpawnLocs[Rand(SpawnLocCount)]);
   Level.Game.PlayTeleportEffect(Other, True, True);
}

I also thought in the one you posted, however I suggested the first because it's slightly better, since mine doesn't destroy nor create a new spawn if not needed (if the player cannot be moved, there's no need to detect the spawn effect to begin with, that's how I went when I posted that code).
But considering the amount of times a player cannot be moved, that's negligible of course, so either code should work fine.

[MrLoathsome]

I selected the 2nd method, since it is shorter and compiles about 8 to 12 bytes smaller U file. LOL

Your suggested method would indeed be faster in cases where there were so many pawns moving about the map
that the relocation failed a good number of times, but as you mentioned, the difference would be negligible.
And that would be one crowded map.....

Either method is going to have the same result, so unless some other issue is noticed with this, RC3 will remain as the final for what will
be the basic DM version of this thing.

Also, just got done with a 5 hour testing marathon with this. DM/TDM/CTF. A friend of mine stopped by and we played non-stop with this mutator running
on one of my servers. No problems noticed at all. Not one GPF on either client machine. Server never crashed on any maps either.

[Wises]

had some lols with this one, Didn't help much in case of Archane Temple unfortunately.. there must be 1 2 many playerstarts (near the doorway) in this map lol

also wootabulous.. you may find yourself falling from a very high distance lol...

re woot.. I guess you could check for a certain radius to nearest solid? not sure.. about these kind spawn points

cheers.

Edit: just wondering , is there a way that by ActorClass (say PlayerStart01) to like limit the chances of players spawning at these points.
so yes we can open the map in UED then .. find the ID's and in the RSM.ini settings give it setting like so perhaps;

Map[0]=ArchaneTemple
.
PlayerStart[0]="PlayerStart01,PlayerStart02,PlayerStart10"
.
PlayerStartChance[0]=20

So in Theory ... on ArchaneTemple @ PlayerStarts 01,02 & 10 only use these spawns points 20% of the time or something?

Could even use this method I guess to totally not use Certain PlayerStarts I guess.

[Chamberly]

Hello, nice mod. and I have a question.

Edit: Yes, this mutator let players spawn in the skybox, can there be any code written to prevent this?

Feedback from an admin who used this on his active DM sniper server:
"I've got word that players get spawned in the sky boxes or areas they aren't supposed to be,such as decorative places built into the maps that aren't playable. Players cant get out of there and are forced to suicide or are confused and leave the server.
Also the pawns are slow sometimes and results in excessive telefragging when players are respawning in a very fast pace."

& I think when the RSL select spots like up high in a map (example, dm - cool blue, there were several versions of them) and somehow they died because the map eliminate the spot up there (roof top)... the player got disconnected and then reconnected quickly (I seen it in the spec mode.) Wouldn't this be the map problem with this mod?

Or... if you played DM-FF-Pink (I noticed there is a few different versions) if you try to go on top of the 2 middle buildings then you would have some death effect. & I think if you spawned up there you would probably be end up dead or it allow you to stay when you aren't suppose to be up there? (Sniper map btw...)

& for CTF idea... how about having spawn anywhere but within x amount of radius (separation from opposite flag)?

[Hitman]

I tested this on my classic TDM-sniper and i tell you this works like a charm, and works fine with ACE, the best mod since sliced bread but for UT99
109.70.148.94:4777 if someone what to test it in action.

[Chamberly]

I've edited my previous post a few times. So I'm leaving a quick reply. Thanks for looking into this.

[MrLoathsome]

I tested this on my classic TDM-sniper and i tell you this works like a charm, and works fine with ACE, the best mod since sliced bread but for UT99
109.70.148.94:4777 if someone what to test it in action.

Thanks Hitman. Glad you like it.

Didn't help much in case of Archane Temple unfortunately.. there must be 1 2 many playerstarts (near the doorway) in this map lol

hmmm... I just tested out a game on Archane Temple with 6 bots, and it seemed to be working fine. How long did you test it? (and are you sure the mutator was loaded...)

It does put 1 line to the UT.log file when it loads. Look for this:

Code: Select all

ScriptLog: Add mutator RSL.RSL
ScriptLog: RandomSpawnLoc Init - Spawnpoint count: 177

It finds 177 locations on Archane Temple.

Although the odds are against it, it is entirely possible that a number of respawns
in a row could occur in one area. This does no checks regarding where the previous
relocation's happened at.

In that doorway area for example, in addition to whatever playerstarts are near there, I am
guessing there are a number of navigation points for the bots, and also more inventory
points for the rocket launcher and the 2 rocket packs.
Outside the door in that small area by the pond, you have those 4 or 5 health vials, each of those will also be a possible location.
In addition to whatever navigation points and other inventory/weapons/pickups are out there....

I did respawn in that area a few times, but most of the time it was elsewhere. Same for the bots.

also wootabulous.. you may find yourself falling from a very high distance lol...
re woot.. I guess you could check for a certain radius to nearest solid? not sure.. about these kind spawn points

Hello, nice mod. and I have a question.
Edit: Yes, this mutator let players spawn in the skybox, can there be any code written to prevent this?

Well, my question on that would be, why did the mapper place inventory or navigation points in those areas?
Regarding the death effect on the buildings on DM-FF-Pink, same question.
Note the mutator does exclude inventory items that are in painzones, just for the occasions when mappers place a nice
keg of health in goop or lava or whatever, so the relocation's should not happen there. If they have navigation points
there, again I can blame the mapper at this point.

Note I did test this quite a bit on a number of 3rd party maps, and never ran into any of these issue once yet, but these are
maps I have been using for a while just because they were done correctly, and don't crash the server or spam the log with warnings.

That being said, there probably are some things that could be done to make this work better with "problem" maps.

Wises suggestion above is almost exactly what I was thinking would be the best way to address that, but sorta the opposite.
The list(s) in the ini would be optional. If a map name was in there, the associated locations in the ini for
that map would be excluded.

This could work, but would be a pain to test, and not user friendly at all. It would require the user to load the
map up in UED in order to find out the right name to use for each spot that they wanted to exclude.
Then they would have to edit the ini file manually to get the info in there.

The other idea is interesting, i.e. setting odds for each location, however as a server admin, I would not want to look at
those ini files much. They could get huge. I could easily write a script that would create the ini file sections for each map
with a default odds of 100% or something, but I still wouldn't want to use that. The files would be large. And you would still
need to use UED to look up the names for specific locations you wanted to change the odds on...

Also the pawns are slow sometimes and results in excessive telefragging when players are respawning in a very fast pace.

This should not slow anything down, as all the list building happens before the match starts.
After that, in game, this thing is only 3 lines that happen if a player respawns or a new player joins.
It destroys the teleport effect, attempts to relocate the player, then respawns the teleport effect at whatever location the player is after that.
If the relocation fails, the player will still be at the default location. As far as I know, SetLocation either works or not, quickly and without any
issues.
Unless function SetLocation lags out under conditions I am unaware of, this should not add much load to your PC or server at all.

Unfortunately this is unable to correct the issue where excessive telefragging occurs at start up or if a bunch of players all die at once.
Reason is the engine will still put the players at the default startpoints before the mutator has a chance to relocate them.
The only way to fix this is to reduce the number of players/bots on the map, or edit the map and add some more playerstarts.

Thanks again for the comments and feedback. Good stuff.

[Wises]

wicked and indepth reply bro .. you have definitely put alot of time/energy and thought into this.. Awesome.
re: Archane Temple. I now understand what you are saying.. in regards to the outdoor area.. there is a lot going on out there.. apples , bananas , pears.. cucumbers etc.. (jks) inventory objects and such.. one just needs ro type 'showall' into console to see all these fruits n veges :/

also regarding the .ini thing.. it would be kinda cumbersome trying to Identify every individual actor placed in this one map alone lolz.

I was sure that RSM was loaded and with four players.. over 10 minutes.. we all spawned out there at least 10 times each lol... unless there was maybe a zone prohibitor perhaps I doubt much can be done about this..short of a quick edit.

re: w00tabulous.. this map is very popular amoung nw's and ig communities.. the falling for the sky part is an intentional thing.. where by players can tele to a very high platform containing a redeemer or 2... the trick is.. after you bounce off a jump pad and collect the redeemers you begin falling down to the 2 bases …meanwhile u fire off a shot or 2 b4 either a) splattering all over the ground.. b) missing all platforms alltogether and being cast off into the depths of space.. c) pressing your predefined 'suicide' key.. (set input r suicide) or d) skillfully using your BT Skills.. guide your player-pawn to one of the little red jump-pads on one of the platforms. and surviving .5secs b4 being boosted into a 6pack of carefully spammed rockets..:p.. whew.. that was a mouthful...

anyways.. long story short.. I think that there could be fruit of the apple kind to help assist bots.. safely down to the bases perhaps..

actually had several lols in a 2player game where both myself and code187 splattered all over each others bases several times.

this one I think could be countered by some thing like.. now i don't know the exact distance measurement in UT's system but.. perhaps if playerspawn point Y>= 1024uu's? then respawn perhaps.. I know that some maps deliberately spawn players at some height 512uu's? in Dm-Fractal? for memory.. so maybe even in RSM.ini a setting for the distance.. so admins can decide..?.. maybe they like to see players splatter to there deaths idk lmao.optional always seems to be best imo.

just thinking here.. how your mod calculates all spawn points.. maybe it could also detect all invalid spawn points based on various and exclude them from the spawn list altogether PreGameBegin.. I know on a map I made for example years ago.. I had several player starts outside of the map and or embedded in walls i forget lol.. bit this would definately be a fantastic fix.. for amatuer wannabe mapmakers like wises. ^_^

re: telefragging.. this happens often on maps where players re-spawn in certain areas lol my nemisis archanetemple for example.. however.. iam thinking.. not sure if this is even possible.. but perhaps pre-check spawn locations b4 spawning playerpawns perhaps?.. is there some way I wonder for doing this.. yes there could be a delay on players spawning.. xx.ms but meh.. saves the WTF's... 'Rage Quits' etc later i guess.. dunno.

anyways m8..awesome mod and I think all who have tested it enjoy it as much as we do.. Personally I love it.. spawning next to the Deemer/Amp in Liandri is funny..
theres something else perhaps for the optional RSM.ini the ability to set weather players can spawn next to special powerup's/shields etc... no biggy.. bit I think there will be others who will enquire about such things later on down the beaten path ...

re: separate mod based on gametype scenario.. I forget if I read above somewhere.. but.. were you saying something about combining DM/CTF/OTHER Gametype settings into one Mod with separate mutator settings for each one in the .int file? like zp103.. or sepetate mod altogether?..

assuming that you would have one RSM.u file and different mutator classes for each independant gametype ie;

DM.RSM , CTF.RSM , JB.RSM ... etc?

cheers..

appendage: re: telefreggals.. perhaps being able to detect also .ini dependant... the player being TFD'ed subtract death from score.. and global message all players that players xyz were given an extra chance due to bad weather conditions or something?

re: testing grounds for things like falling players.. CTF and other such things.. just had a thought here to save you time .. fire up UED And make 2-4 special very basic maps.

for the player fall one for example.. 2048^3 cube.. at differing heights place playerstarts / apples , chuck in some lights /render /save as falling-test.unr

for special items no-spawning next-to map... 1024^3 And place some specialitems in map and several playerstarts or moreso apples next to them.. thinking now.. perhaps optional but.. Playerstarts should be booleanable.. as map makers may intend for players to spawn next to certain items.. however apples.. oranges, banana's etc...yer.. MinRadius<=256,512,1024 map size dependant perhaps.. *shrugs*

again same thing for CTF... one big assed booty map 1024x4092x4092 and four flags.. maybe some coloured lights.. and a predefined suicide key should do the trick..

think that about covers it.. never played jailbreak personally.. so not sure about test environment for that puppy.

[MrLoathsome]

Testing continues on this.

Next update will increase the number of available locations a bit, and should help with telefrags on respawns.

Particularly on maps with few or no inventory items and no bot pathing. (I found 1 map where this mutator only
found 1 location, and that was quite a tele-frag-fest DM-BDC-Arena][)

Only found 1 major glitch on any of the default maps tested so far. It is either DM-Stalwart or DM-Stalwart-XL. (Perhaps both)
There are those crates that have ammo or whatever inside, and they don't open until you shoot them from
the outside. If the mutator spawns you in there and nobody has opened the crate yet, you are stuck, and will
need to suicide or reconnect. (Or wait for somebody to open the crate.... )
Only happened once in at least 6-8 test games on those maps, but still needs to be looked into.

maybe it could also detect all invalid spawn points based on various and exclude them from the spawn list altogether PreGameBegin.

That is exactly where the checks I am considering will be done, as I want to avoid adding anything else to the modifyplayer function.
This finds so many locations on most maps, I want to find a more efficient method to exclude locations other than doing radius checks in 6 directions
for each point. On some of the Big maps I have tested it with, it is finding hundreds of locations. Highest I seen so far was 920, but that will increase with the next version.

In addition to keeping it fast while games are active, I want to avoid adding anything that will lag out map changes.

re: Archane Temple. I now understand what you are saying.. in regards to the outdoor area.. there is a lot going on out there.. apples , bananas , pears.. cucumbers etc.. (jks) inventory objects and such..

Still have been unable to recreate that issue on Archane Temple, even in an online test the other night with 4 real players and 6 bots.

Also regarding your reference to the UED icons. It took me a moment to realize exactly what you were talking about, as I almost never use UED for anything.
I didn't even get the cucumbers joke until the 3rd time I skimmed over your reply.
Only use UED to export the source if I am setting up a new edit install, or on rare occasions to mess with a UTX file.

My previous attempts to use that program for even looking at existing maps, let alone creating a new one, were so frustrating and enraging that I can't even
describe them. (If I tried, PaperCoffee would ban me forever from the site, and perhaps the whole internet. )

In the future, just use the boring text names for those various types of locations, and I will know exactly what you are talking about.

[Wises]

hehe the fruit thing.. if you type into your ut99 console , 'showall' you would have gotten my joke

aside from Inventory Items Weapons/Ammo etc there are 'Apples' Litterally.. oh and PlayerStarts..

the Apples .. Are Bot Paths.. Basically in UED you build a Map and between say this wall and that wall .. if you want bots to actually move anywhere you need to leave a trail of Apples to within a certain Radius of other Items.. then build the Paths and map

if you would like to learn a little bit.. then BBDrac have some pretty cool tutorials and still live here;

http://www.birrabrothers.com/drac/index.php?dsps=3

very easy to follow tuts .. will take you probably 1--2 hours to get through them.. and know a whole lot.. it really is easy to build your first map.. using these kinds of resources and fun too.. after making a few fixed maps adding textures and stuff.. you may want to look at teleporters , triggers and movers (more advanced stuff)
this is what makes it really fun.. i was aways amazed by Dawns Servers.. with all the cool Movers and effects..

problems arise like UED Crashing , HOM effects and other annoyances like when trying to do advanced terrain kind of works...

but generally.. always and I mean always save your work,,

because the UED engine is so.. touchy , that it would crash just by looking at it funny.

also.. you need version 436 to even get it going.. the fix for 451b allows you to open it.. and thats about all you can do..

so 436 it is..

if you only have 451.. then copy paste folder..

and apply the 436nodelta patch to it

which should I think revert it back

then open UED from there.

now .. interesting.. the more spawns thing.

I had an idea last night actually ... random weapon Spawner lmao

for those maps that were made for Gibby-Stockers

but that's another story lmao

Re: the trapped in boxes thing lol.. I can image getting stuck in DM-Curse][ with the AMP.. hidden by the stairs.. luckily that door auto opens

as it is it works really well.. hows the CTF side of things coming along?

cheers.

[papercoffee]

(If I tried, PaperCoffee would ban me forever from the site, and perhaps the whole internet. )

Wut?

if you would like to learn a little bit.. then BBDrac have some pretty cool tutorials and still live here;

http://www.birrabrothers.com/drac/index.php?dsps=3

Best easy understandable tutorial out there.

[MrLoathsome]

Thanks for the suggestions regarding mapping tutorials and whatnot, but I am far too slow in the head to figure out all that mess.
(There are plenty of mappers already anyways...)

However I did figure out how to add CTF and TDM support to this mutator. Read and re-read the Readme.txt file for details.

Was wrong when I stated I would probably have to do separate versions for those gamestypes....

I was also wrong about being unable to eliminate the telefrags at game startup. They are gone from this version.
In multiple tests on small 2vs2 maps, with me and 15 bots in the game, I noticed zero telefrags.

If you see a telefrag while using this, it means a player or bot got out the translocator, and telefragged somebody with it.

Somebody try this with CTF4 and then rename the CTF4 map to DM, and try TDM game with this mutator. Let me know if they work.
(It should also support a CTF map with 3 flags/teams on it, if somebody wrote one....)

All I need now is a way to make TDM include both DM maps and CTF maps in its list.......

Post #1 updated with the new download and Readme.txt file. Read it again and then download it.

Edit - Re: Glitches

In extensive testing for this, I only have come across 2 cases where players/bots spawn where they shouldn't.
They will only happen rarely, but still can occur.

There is a location inside the engines on HyperBlast, that slips past the current location validation.
Other case, was on DM-Bathroom-Cow-Beta6. At one point I spawned in one of the fan enclosures on the
big pressure box thingy. No way out, other than killing oneself at that point.

This version does find 399 spawn locations on DM-HyperBlast, so it is unlikely that you will spawn in one of the
2 invalid spots, but still possible.

[Wises]

giving it a test will report back in few days

Excellent stuff

[Shadow]

This RSM is a must for the HoldTheFrigginBurger game type of Food Fight. Do you hear me Shadow???

Yes I hear you Boss^^ Well I already have a random placement code for the burger. It iterates through the nav points and places it randomly at some point. Are you satisfied with that?