NavAdder mutator

[Nelsona]

I suggested years ago about making a mod that would not allow MH end to work unless all Monsters have been eliminated from level and that would keep DJ from being abused.

Enough hard to setup killing all monsters. We have some problems:
- monster falling to death and not dying - Triggered death - I think problem is solved in XCMH as I could see so far but... will see;
- Monster isolated as a lousy incomplete map and crapped as well - eg: GXech and suite - tweaked well in here...

For the moment solution is to do an examination at maps candidates for cheating and removing that crapped high jump because you are simply getting hurt at landing - it's what I did already. So DJ exist as a combat strategy but way more relaxed and acting properly at 240+ ms ping without triggering movement confusions and ugly movement effects, these being for those DJ lovers which I did not see any last time - maybe they have finally realized that this stuff is not dedicated for MH and now they feel frustrated or heck knows...
Maps which are going nasty can be tweaked VIA server-side (spawning a counter and linking it with End, Assigning last Boss as a critical point for End, etc. these are easy without editing maps). I'm not gonna mention that we can have some "walls" if are needed even as placards with some text:
"Mad goats are denied from being retarded". I have only a problem in picking up the font and the design...

Back to problem CM2_2011- I have to do some fine tuning around water area, some funky things are happening and I wanna figure if DevPath from XCGE v21 is not naughty because I don't get a funky new "Reachable" contest - and looks like Bot has the same problem like me. It's not a big deal because it's the last area anyway and player can be relaxed as long as all creatures are dead. If Bot is ending map (happens 50-60%) or player is in charge doesn't matter that much. I have to adjust some movement tweaks but I don't want to spread too many actors.

Extra-tech:
In this patch module is the first time when I DELETED old PathNodes (server-side only) and That's why I'm testing these intensive, map has less actors and a less loaded Path-Net - even monsters do look happy here, especially Week-End ones...

[imyourmomma_{HoF}]

Schwartz took off double jump a year or so ago. A lot of the other regular clients were not happy. Double jump has kind of been one of the things that set the HoF mh servers as different from the others. Most don't abuse it. Some like to get up high which is cool to me. Or use it to get somewhere safe. Only a few non regular players in the past have run ahead and jumped walls to end the map early. That is normally not a problem. There is a server out there that wont end the current map until all the monsters are dead. I forget which one it is. I have seen it sit on that map then for days lol. Because from what I remember you couldn't even get the map vote to come up until the map ended. Some maps have monsters off the map or some fall off the map which would make it impossible for the map to end.

I played the fixed version of Tarnished and Temple of the Gods last week. And skyland v1. They all worked nice.

[Nelsona]

Technically there are some patch files for map CrystalMine2-2011 because... this one is newer than previous, at least dates from my system are revealing which one is newer - supposed improved.
I still need to do more testing related to server-side stuff in order to not do wrong paths and to setup mechanics properly if something is not OK. So far I see that it do works fine, a few InventorySpots were distracting Bots too much in first area and this was not the best ever thing. I removed Armor2 pointers leaving only weaponry attached in Network, these changes seems way better, especially in Week-End where... monsters have time to play too .
I gotta admit I've loved to work at this map.

A cave at toward patch chapter: At a high ping connection completed by packets loss client side might suffer (none badge, none decorations, no lighting tweaks...). These are probably rare occurrences but worth to know about them.

DoubleJump is not the worst ever thing but... if evils are around, game can be turned into trash exactly as I could see for Translocator stuff and GRAB - nothing funny at all. Some of them always were getting over closed gates finishing map in less than a minute. What for ? We are here to play but we are rushing to end - I don't get the idea.
Another note: DJ is available but if I'm looking at server graph, I don't see too much activity. What happened ? If server works fine this also isn't a good thing, huh ? No more stupid millions and all that useless stuff...

[Nelsona]

First port has been updated with patch modules required by NavAdder for map MH-CrystalMine-2011.
For preventing confusions - file's checks:

• CRC-32: b831230e
  MD5: e91e320534556dfa403176d0ce1d156f
  SHA-1: bef149d5d888099fcd732bd65827733ac30ef489
  SHA-256: 476712409be242c8802aaef2c0ca001cdb1419719a4ea8e51c24038813314933

Patching descriptions:
- removing old PathNodes - too many and too useless, Lifts pathing here was a myth - now it works;
- setting up Bot objectives and paths covering essential zones - using a version of NoLost Actor managing empty fields without requirement for other paths;
- changing giant coronas;
- adding some lamps because lightning in that spot did not look like it was coming through windows but like from some invisible lamps - now are visible;
- a lost Monster Event never seen is now part of the "map-story" and fixing spelling - we don't need "!!!" more screaming here;
- a few creatures have been added in order to prevent sleeping on keyboard when some zones were somehow too empty - more creatures are joining in Week-End times;
- fixing a wrong spelling...
It was

• Good Luck team! Make sure you find cover behind the boxes.

Changed to

• Good Luck, team! Be sure you won't find cover behind the boxes.

because here we play Monster Hunt not a sort of rat-shooting training class. Death is part of the game, we do have functions for such things, so I don't get the point of chickening out.

Patch files are added in XC MH server so anyone can figure how do they work and if worth the download.

A reminder:
Decompiling these it's not forbidden - compiling into another format is a problem. These modules are new "bad-ass" things which have ONLY a single purpose: TWEAKING a Single map... and done. Several classes can be adapted to mapping but... definitely there will be needed a revision around Net Stuff, certain things here don't have Net Code because... it's not needed - read well - things here are set authoritatively where they belong with intention to not exhaust bandwidth and to demand client presence into the self-decorating task rather than useless updating actors through network.

[Nelsona]

And to the next type - switching a bit.
Speaking about those maps called HTD, they are good looking in a way or another. However, these are far from any tech and any setup skill - I'm not gonna post full logs but a few things good to see. Before to reveal "inside" part I can see two maps HTD being almost twins I'm not sure what was added as "+" in map MH-Doomed-HELL-HTD+.unr compared with MH-Doomed-HELL-HTD.unr. Probably looking for details takes way too much time so I'm not gonna spend here 2 months for figuring difference(s) as long as I have two sample logs being like a cheap copy of the same dumb thing.

Code: Select all

Log: SkaarjBerserker94 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker95 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker96 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker97 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker98 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker99 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker100 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker101 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog140 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog72 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog58 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog59 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog60 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog64 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog65 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog66 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog70 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog71 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog52 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog53 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog54 fell out of the world!

And then Version so called "+" is

Code: Select all

Log: SkaarjBerserker94 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker95 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker96 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker97 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker98 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker99 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker100 fell out of the world!
Log: SkaarjBerserker101 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog140 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog72 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog58 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog59 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog60 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog64 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog65 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog66 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog70 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog71 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog52 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog53 fell out of the world!
Log: YellowMullog54 fell out of the world!

Can anyone figure where is the plus here ?

What else have to be mentioned. I'm sitting down to think if patch files won't go bigger than map itself, this would means space consumed for nothing in a giant run-time map editing, since by fixing map directly probably things can be solved without another load for repositories. My proposal as candidate for tweaking would be the + version as long as I can see it more recently done.

We have here movers... some useless one (that would be fun to remove), Mullog type monsters which are... TRASH from all angles, map lacks in load (health ammo were probably expensive, no money for them or it was a low mapping budget assigned here). This map (using singular format) is supposed to have 557 monsters which are not all of them available at Call of Duty .

As another matter of fact maybe I have to setup a small mutator (or not because it do needs iterations) in purpose to recover these "lost souls" using a criteria which I was thinking about. However, given said map with that number of actors/monsters iterations are the last thing which I want here...

[Nelsona]

Action running
Patch for this HTD do seems to have functionality. I went into a few sensitive problems with this/these package/s having stupid chars in name. Actually some text related functions did not worked that nice as supposed and I had to execute some coding/compiling stunts in order to gain new "Mullog" monsters with a better carcass not that green trash without skins . If these are about to work properly I'll do some removal of that useless mover or... making a smoking room. Anyway "awesome" RocketLauncher coming from SinUT developing some "nice" combat features when was handled by monsters has been replaced with other subclass with more Sanity checkers and another A.I. code.... Map will use custom counters and Movers different set for preventing any triggering borks.
I think soon these HTD patch files are going to be added in XC MH server. So far Bots also were pretty OK at handling action.

[Nelsona]

First post has been updated. We have now patch files required by NavAdder for tweaking map MH-Doomed-HELL-HTD+.
A note about
Map uses all sort of characters NOT FOR NAMING FILES in its name. I'm not sure if this is a problem in several servers or not. Compiling patch files has required some coding stunts in order to create them, if you cannot run map because of such reason perhaps patch files won't help too. XC MH server from HOF is supporting such things so it was updated with the map in cause + patch files. Map is one of those good looking things but having more borks at setup and stuff used.
Map's checksums:

• CRC-32: 477c65c7
  MD5: adcdce018e572cc0f8e364a98c89d62f
  SHA-1: df8a8799eba1b962cd5c71e3fa5fcf6894d6d945
  SHA-256: 05de959b991135626623f0c9c396f41d0265f024ae2c24d46f61676c0b1c8f60

Patching notes:
- Adding Bot objectives and paths to this empty Level covering main routes + route toggling actors;
- Changing Setting for Movers - these were bad options by default AttachMover has definitely other purpose than being used as a door;
- A door heading nowhere has been removed;
- More Ammo and Healing spots have been added - default replacement won't do too much here because is obsolete and I took some measures;
- some monsters are coming in week-end time - credits goes at Mr. LoathSome;
- lightning tweaks;
- custom counters;
- another sort of Mullog monster (YellowMullog more exactly);
- reducing spam values which original factories were using for no purpose;
- bringing back into stage Monsters dying into void as long as I do not have any clue why they have been added there.

Probing and what patchers do can be seen in XC MH server hosted by HOF.

[Nelsona]

Moving ahead.
While some people have seen players wearing HOF tag, I found a file wearing map extension UNR. By looking closer VIA Editor at this file which is called MH map named Minas_Tirith having some of those interesting textures ChicoRuinedPackages(C) (D) whatever (that's another story) I could see certain "stuff". What can be noticed here... let's take a look (maybe you won't figure what is about).

Mi_Ti.PNG (195.18 KiB) Viewed 10523 times

- For triggering Skaarj defenders map uses triggers (selected with collision) it's just a SERVER-SPAM this triggering abomination. Multiple triggers are acting in the same spot with only one stupid purpose. If you trigger a monster ONCE at 5 seconds it's more than enough, but probably not for this "Sai" author - map addressing the same server setup with bWeaponStay=False + some UTJ junk, else I cannot figure why do we need 2 miniguns and 2 shockrifles at start but no f...g AMMO this is another mitigation type map based on some setup specific to a server not a MH map;
- We don't have any path but we do trigger monsters multiple times - WTF !?;
- We have a direct sight from yard to hunters but way it's stupidly blocked with BlockAll actors - logic of that zone it's far from my understanding;
- We have another textured wall but INVISIBLE;
- We have (because area is big) A LOT OF Lightning (shit lightning more exactly) - such type of map (UNIZONED ? ) doesn't even need a single light - read well, all lightning might be done by adjusting LEVEL's AmbientBrightness properly without computing lights and loading actors and doing a fine tuning maybe with a lamp or something inside;
- We could have PathNodes, they are free for use you don't need any account at Epic for adding such things in map.

I think I'll be a bit busy here, I wanna see if DevPath is helping me or else I might ignore this junk.

Edit:
I found other small zones and interesting triggering loops. Game is not crashing thanks to dispatcher used else it would be "nice".
DevPath responds well at a basic route to MonsterEnd (moved Reachable) configured from 44 PathNode types, so I think Bot support would be easy to inject.
My problem is now what to do with those invisible borks, BlockAll and Invisible walls around. I'm looking for something wise and suitable as a visual solution. Probably nobody has figured ON-Line those flags flickering, default Net Code is crapped... It looks like the rest of patching will take a bit longer. These Skaarj types made me to do a small revision toward some stuff which I previously wrote improving things here...

[Nelsona]

Heart-Beat post.
Things have been taking some time, I setup a few decorations addressing Client and assigning some collisions here and there only in Server/Authoritative environment - I have transported these into another type of package imported into common patch file.
If map in original do looks poor like here:

Mi_Ti_Before.png (983.81 KiB) Viewed 10506 times

After loading patch, so far (I need to put something inside as well) will be like here.

Mi_Ti_After.png (925.57 KiB) Viewed 10506 times

I'm going to setup some fine tuning for those Tower-flags which probably weren't so seen On-Line due to their "fascinating" default properties but Net Code can be brought to stage by simply attacking some of their properties and then flags are fluttering properly (:P , lol Epic). At fine tuning I'm speaking about a different flutter frequency because timing them perfectly doesn't return a real wind feeling, you cannot have four (even if are closer) flags moving in a perfect timing. I might want to try at least to break their timing.

[Nelsona]

First Post has been updated with archive containing files used by NavAdder dedicated for patching map MH-Minas_Tirith.
Map's File checksums:

• CRC-32: 7a7f6a91
  MD5: 2eaf23dd39e068cee1243f828d068cc0
  SHA-1: f056e34c1b96a7cd0fff374e148f1ac47082505d
  SHA-256: 3a236e872509b37e7662b4a810ce9943def2af362049cd8d6840c65663f3b38e

Patching quotes:
- reducing number of triggers triggering monsters because this was an abomination - For info see foot-note*;
- adding PathNodes and connecting them because won't cost nothing;
- changing End trigger because was set in default collision;
- adding decorations;
- destroying dumb 255 "lightning" type - that's a stupidity not lightning;
- and so on **.

Patch files for Minas_Tirith are loaded in XC MH server so anyone can check out tweaked map...

FootNotes:
* - a little tech around default like MH versions. Trigger set for Player is reacting at Pawn proximity having bIsPlayer=True. This happens for Skaarj as well as long as these prototypes wants weaponry. Due to "awesome" triggering features of monster, it's possible to see them attacking themselves as SHITTY as was set that trigger covering them - I could see that. They are capable of coming back from GameEnded state in a self damaging spree. Some mutators might prevent monster on Monster fight and damage but this doesn't mean that server is not processing useless triggering... Thanks, Sai, for your great "map", great area, great lightning, great triggering and the rest of great setup...

** - another map announced "fix" and being a bit modified was blabbering around. Except a BSP hole killing me I did not see other logic modifications so I moved it into trash folder the said second useless map. We might want places for future maps rather than duplicated borks.