For mappers (mainly): UltimateONSTools [also suitable for VCTF]

[lilalurl]

Since Crusha released the full version of his tools, here is the description from his release:
After more than one year of tedious work and testing and bugfixing and getting overwhelmed with new ideas that want to be implemented, I now managed to actually put out a release!

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/User:Crusha/UltimateMappingTools
(Download link on that page, together with the manual)


In case you didn't hear about my project before:
UMT is a toolset that I created with the goal to put together one single package that would be enough to make any mapper happy without ever feeling like there is something missing.
For this purpose did I code a lot myself but also gathered, with the permissions of the authors, scripts scattered all over the web and bundled them here.
So included are also:

Some tools from Jailbreak (renamed to avoid potential conflicts) and Wormbo in general
Nova's TeamSpecificActors
MarZer's DynamicWeatherActors
KillBait's VehicleTeleporter
Party Boy's ParallaxSkyZoneInfo
Unkown author's KarmaThing



Some highlights from my own stuff:

UltimateVehicleFactory (for ONS and VCTF/any gametype separately)
You can tweak every detail that could matter for balancing. You can even track the vehicle on the radar map, like Leviathans in UT3 are tracked!
CullDistanceVolume
Just put this Volume around your map and it will assign CullDistances based on the mesh's size. A very quick and very efficient way to gain performance. I gained more than 100% average performance in my test map and up to 40 frames difference for both, Min and Max FPS.
UltimateRadarMap
A single Actor that you place in your map and it will give you an ONS-like minimap (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4174/vctfradarmap.jpg). It supports tracking of GameObjectives in all default UT2k4 gametypes and 4-teams gametypes as well as Multi-Bombing Run and Triple Domination.
UltimateDestroyableEnvironemt
Looks like a plain StaticMeshActor and behaves in any other way like one, but in fact can this Actor change it's whole appearance based on damage that it takes. It can even spawn physically simulated KActors as wreckage that work in online games.
LogicGate
AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND and NOR find their way into the trigger system of the UE2. Together with a whole lot of new Trigger-related Actors and ScriptedActions can you create completely new gameplay mechanics in maps.



Enjoy it and let me know what you think and report any bugs you encounter, although I really hope there are none left after all that testing. :)
Link to the thread in the Epic forums:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/841836-UltimateMappingTools-Seriously-mapper-just-download-it!




Original post starts here:

I am posting this on someone else's behalf and I believe this is the most appropriate sub-forum (if not Some Mate or anyone else with moderating powers feel free to move it).


Here is my personal introduction to it:

Crusha, an ONS player/mapper/coder has been working on a toolset for mappers. While it was designed with ONS in mind, some functions may be interesting for VCTF mappers.

Notably, when I saw that he fixed the minigun turret so that now it can be team locked (i.e. it is now only accessible for the team it belongs to and not to everyone), I remembered reading some VCTF players complaining about the minigun turrets because everyone could hijack them (with some players spending most of their time in the enemy base turrets...).

As I know mappers for VM and ApA check here, I suggested mentioning his tool here (of course, he will register if there is some feedback/questions etc...). I am pretty sure he could add some VCTF-specific conditions if needed/requested.



Here is what he had to say:

Dear mappers of Vehicle Masters,

My name is Crusha, I am an ONS-mapper and coder and created something that you might be interested in. I asked lilalurl to post this for me because I don't want to have another useless account in the web in case you don't need this thing. But if I get some feedback, I will get an account myself.


What I made is a toolset for mappers that offers a huge load of new possibilities to take influence in a map.
It was mainly created considering the special requirements of ONS (such as switching the sides on Reset, don't know if (V)CTF is actually doing that), but most of the actors work in any gametype.

It's a smaller version of Unreal Engine 3's "Kismet", which allows leveldesigners to react on many things that can happen in a map. You cannot react on everything with my stuff, but still on many things (and even more in the future).
You can read the whole functionality and things here:
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=716049

It allows you to connect TriggerEvents in order to trigger new Events basing on the result (like Logical Gates), consider the number of players, randomness, time, etc.
And you can tweak a LOT about vehicles, like making them spawnprotected, eject the driver instead of killing him, not unlocking them to the enemy when being entered, lock it for one team all the time (works great with minigun-turrets ) and you can have something like a bank account for your team, allowing to earn scorepoints on that account and to "buy" events for that points. Such events could be opening a door or lowering a bridge or buying a vehicle

[DannyBoy]

Woah^ N1 :)

Ok. I will give this one some thought and I'm sure Heimy will too. I'm not rly a mapper but I know the Editor and what it lacks.
For now I have one custom actor on my mind, a moving flag. basically the flag actor can be set to be a mover in the properties, then the movement keyed in with the same old system.

I'm sure I will have more tomorrow :)

[Heimddallr]

Interesting.

Like that, i have not idea as request.
But, have a coder it s very interesting.

In fact, i 've got a big problem with pandora's box. I mixe some trigger and a script to work my pandora's box. But, there 're some bugs at the end and some time during the game. I will be happy if you can help me.

Arggh ! i am thincking.
A great idea => Show up an emitter (or xemitter) which cross all objet (mesh, brush, terrain, ...). This emitter mark the position of the flag carrier after a timing. The emitter is attached at the flag carrier (they move together). The emitter disappear when the flag is drop (or score).

[DannyBoy]

Interesting.

Like that, i have not idea as request.
But, have a coder it s very interesting.

In fact, i 've got a big problem with pandora's box. I mixe some trigger and a script to work my pandora's box. But, there 're some bugs at the end and some time during the game. I will be happy if you can help me.

Arggh ! i am thincking.
A great idea => Show up an emitter (or xemitter) which cross all objet (mesh, brush, terrain, ...). This emitter mark the position of the flag carrier after a timing. The emitter is attached at the flag carrier (they move together). The emitter disappear when the flag is drop (or score).

It already kind of has one. The glow of the flag shows through walls n' such.. I guess you would mark the flag with an AS objective tag to see it from anywhere.

[Some_Mate]

Very nice to see people putting something positive back into the community just for the love of the game!

I will move this to a new "UT2004" Related sub forum, that doesn't actually exist yet, and really needs to!

If you would like me to host a copy of your tool set here for people to download I would be more than happy to do so, as I have spare bandwidth!

[Heimddallr]

It already kind of has one. The glow of the flag shows through walls n' such.. I guess you would mark the flag with an AS objective tag to see it from anywhere.

In fact, i 've already never used a AS objective.
I don't know what we can do with AS objective.

Moreover in AS mod, the objective don't move.
In VCTF, the flag carrier should be.
I don't know if we can attache a AS objective with a flag carrier.
Maybe, a script is necessary.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Hey, finally my account is unlocked. :biggrin:


Thanks for the offer, but since the toolset is only a few MB (it's only plain code, some thousand lines of text) I can easily host it on my Mediafire-account and keep track of download numbers, etc.



@Heimy:
I also never mapped for AS, but do you remember the retail map in which you need to guard/attack the Ion-tank? It's direction is always displayed in the player's HUD (by adding a HUDOverlay-class) and it moves.
I don't know how if such a thing could easily be done in the editor without the need of any further coding.

If it doesn't work by using the editor's default possibilities, then it's probably possible to do that with a mutator somehow, but that would remove the server from the Standard Server-whitelist, something that I successfully avoided in the whole toolset so far and would like to keep in the future.

It might be possible to do that by placing a special actor (that needs to be scripted). But I didn't take a look on CTF-specific code yet, only ONS-stuff.

How easy this would be done depends on whether the code works like
"flag says: this is the guy who is carrying me" (easy and good for performance) or if it works like "certain player says: i have the flag" (no fixed idea yet, but it would be for sure worse for the performance than the first way). In the first case could I use a slightly altered version of the code that I already used in the ScoreContainer.

But is such a thing actually good? Wouldn't it make the game a bit too hard, if everyone knew where the flagcarrier would be? Or are you only thinking about showing where your own flagcarrier (the one with the enemy flag) is?



@Danny's moving flag:
Nice idea, like in UT3. I would just need to see whether I could copy the Mover-code directly. The problem would be, if it's native code, then I can't do anything.
And bots would probably not know where the changed location of the flag is, unless you script something like that

[Some_Mate]

Edited the first post to include your download link! (hope thats all good!):wink:

A moving flag would be awesome, even if it just swapped between two locations every 10 seconds or so, that could make for a really interesting map!

[Crusha K. Rool]

You can include the download, yes, but keep in mind that this is only a version that I kept for legacy purpose, it has not even half of the functionality of the next version and is only for testing, not for real mapping.

[Some_Mate]

And by "next version" I take it you mean "the version in progress"? :)
I know little about mapping!

[Crusha K. Rool]

Yeah, been working on it for about a month now, unfortunately I need to write a skilled labour in the next two weeks, so I won't have much time for this stuff then. But whenever I feel bored in between, I will try to continue on this.


The version in progress will contain everything from this post (http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=716049#9) on, additionally to the V1-stuff.


Damn, I don't even get to continue working on the actual maps. :wink:



The next version of this also won't be the final one, but it will be something that I will consider a stable release that should be used for mapping. When V3 is coming out one day, then it should be recommended to update, but it's not necessary as those two versions could exist along each other if only one at a time is used in a map.
Otherwise the mapper would need to throw everything from V2 out and do it again with V3, but that wouldn't be a good solution. But hey, there are also multiple versions of ArmoredVehicles and AirPower out there. ;)

[DannyBoy]

[QUOTE=Crusha K. Rool;32311]Hey, finally my account is unlocked. :biggrin:



@Danny's moving flag:
Nice idea, like in UT3. I would just need to see whether I could copy the Mover-code directly. The problem would be, if it's native code, then I can't do anything.
And bots would probably not know where the changed location of the flag is, unless you script something like that… I have no experience with AI-scripting yet.




I also came up with another feature for the UltimateWeaponLocker: It should be able to empty the player's complete weapon inventory.
That way you could have something like a class system, you can only pick the equipment that is completely in one weaponlocker, if you move to another, then you will only have the equipment that you get from that locker

[Crusha K. Rool]

Seems pretty hacky to me. ;)

But we'll see…


Did somebody already try btw to (hard)attach the Flagbase to a Mover?


And for the thrown weapons, well they spawn a special temporary PathNode that tells the bot that there is a pickup right now. Maybe scripting another PathNode that is somehow connected to the Flagmover's Keypoints could tell the bots where they need to go in that situation.

[lilalurl]

Do you actually use custom vehicles and weapons in some maps?

Some maps contain custom vehicles but it is rather rare I believe (at least from my experience of VCTF) and turns around Scorpion variations mainly.


From memory, trying to give at least one map using the vehicle (anyone feel free to correct if I am mistaken):

- Spammer, a Scorpion with a Leviathan turret shooting at an accelerated rate -> VCTF-Veniis

- Lynx, a Scorpion with a rocket launching pod -> VCTF-BloodGulch

- Stinger(?), a Scorpion with a minigun turret -> VCTF-Abandonedroads (?)

- Same map, Infiltrator, a Scorpion without turret, perhaps with increased speed (I don't remember).

- I believe I remember seeing a modified Hellbender, but perhaps I am mistaken with an Assault map.

- Not sure, but I suppose that Jeffrey used the EONS vehicles in VCTF-Suspense when he converted it from UT3 to UT2004.

[Icemat]

in some maps there is also a modified manta, which is faster and can jump higher but can`t carry wingmen.

[DannyBoy]

Seems pretty hacky to me. ;)

But we'll see…


Did somebody already try btw to (hard)attach the Flagbase to a Mover?


And for the thrown weapons, well they spawn a special temporary PathNode that tells the bot that there is a pickup right now. Maybe scripting another PathNode that is somehow connected to the Flagmover's Keypoints could tell the bots where they need to go in that situation.


Path nodes don't move as far as I know. So I guess that means a bot can only see a dropped weapon once it has hit the floor?
It can be taken while still moving by a player or bot if it touches them.. Ah.. I dunno. It's all a bit deep for me and I just try guess it all tbh :D


When it comes to modified Vehicles, the one I want to see is a Raptor that can carry someone on the roof.

[Crusha K. Rool]

I am still hoping that GreatEmerald (http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=636507) will port all UT3 weapons, pickups and vehicles with the biggest "historical" correctness, including a mutator to let players use hoverboards and that those hoverboards can hook onto vehicles and that you can also carry a flag or orb in it. ;)
Currently his PC is shut down due to hardware issues, but then he will do the vehicles once he finished the weapons completely (including meshes and animations).



Another nice vehicle for VCTF might be this one:
http://www.levels4you.com/screenshots/f_11316.jpg

That one is still from v1.0, I have a v2.0 downloaded from some server, which has many bugfixes (the v1.0 has some pretty annoying issues in online games).




I don't know how the PathNodes for dropped weapons work, maybe they are calculated at runtime directly into the existing path network and the other ones are just static because it would be too much to calculate them all at realtime. Keep in mind that lifts are also somewhat dynamic.



I'll try to take a look at the (V)CTF-code today, when I find some time.

[DannyBoy]

Transport ship!!!!! I want it!!!

GIMME!!

I will put that in a map and we can have a go. Much fun!

[DannyBoy]

http://www.xfire.com/video/239f73/

V.1

Can't find V2
Crusha could you pass us the links for that one? :)

[lilalurl]

This is probably the V2 that Crusha refers to (middle column, fourth row):
http://www.winkyboy.com/files/ut2004/_inc/listMedia.asp?report=&strDir=.%2FFlyers

[Crusha K. Rool]

Here is the V2 that I downloaded from a random server and extracted from my cache: *link insufficient*

There are some files that are probably not needed anymore, but I couldn't distinguish between V2 and Final, so I put them both in the pack. You can test which ones are the right.

The correct V2 is the one that does the following:

-It has it's pickups removed, since they had a bug where the pickups stayed at the spawnlocation of the vehicle. And whenever it respawned it would add a new set of pickups to the existing ones - ugly and bad for server performance.

-The back door will animate visible to clients when closed. In V1 it looked open all the time, even when it was closed.

-2 MinigunTurret-seats have been added to the side entrances.

-The Helix will stay in the air when you change to the DualMinigun-seat, even when there's no driver (same like in a Cicada). It will not stay up when you change to one of the side-turret's seats, those are for real passengers.


I recommend to use it on large open maps, otherwise it can't unfold it's real potential and would be too fast at the base before you can stop it (it has 1500HP, that's why they call it the Levi of the air). My UltimateONSFactory will be able to change it's default HP, so when it's released you could also place it in smaller maps but with lower HP.




EDIT: damn Lila got it. -.-

[DannyBoy]

Here is the V2 that I downloaded from a random server and extracted from my cache: http://www.mediafire.com/?ozzimjqn3mh

There are some files that are probably not needed anymore, but I couldn't distinguish between V2 and Final, so I put them both in the pack. You can test which ones are the right.

The correct V2 is the one that does the following:

-It has it's pickups removed, since they had a bug where the pickups stayed at the spawnlocation of the vehicle. And whenever it respawned it would add a new set of pickups to the existing ones - ugly and bad for server performance.

-The back door will animate visible to clients when closed. In V1 it looked open all the time, even when it was closed.

-2 MinigunTurret-seats have been added to the side entrances.

-The Helix will stay in the air when you change to the DualMinigun-seat, even when there's no driver (same like in a Cicada). It will not stay up when you change to one of the side-turret's seats, those are for real passengers.


I recommend to use it on large open maps, otherwise it can't unfold it's real potential and would be too fast at the base before you can stop it (it has 1500HP, that's why they call it the Levi of the air). My UltimateONSFactory will be able to change it's default HP, so when it's released you could also place it in smaller maps but with lower HP.




EDIT: damn Lila got it. -.-

U da man ;)

Ok so we can have a good old test with this one, knowing that we can have it weakened once you have it sorted. Good stuff man :)

You see that Kam? Do ya? Ave that ya pessimistic shite bag :p

[Crusha K. Rool]

Who is that doubting Kam?! :mad:

[DannyBoy]

Erm... Critical error.. There's no Texturepack in that DL.

[Crusha K. Rool]

In my or in Lila's?

[DannyBoy]

In my or in Lila's?

Just Downloadding lilas now.. its bigger so I think its in there..]



Yeah.. Mucho more files :D

[Crusha K. Rool]

Yeah it is, and it also contains the parachute. Enabling that mutator will automatically open a chute when you fall long enough. You have only one chute per spawn.

However, embedding that mutator in a map by using the LevelGameRules will cause the server to be unwhitelisted while that map is played.



Oh, and I read that it was possible to attach the Flagbase to a Mover in UTClassic, the only problem is that it returned the flag immediately when the Mover moved. But maybe it's different in UT2k4, you should give it a try.

[DannyBoy]

Yeah it is, and it also contains the parachute. Enabling that mutator will automatically open a chute when you fall long enough. You have only one chute per spawn.

However, embedding that mutator in a map by using the LevelGameRules will cause the server to be unwhitelisted while that map is played.



Oh, and I read that it was possible to attach the Flagbase to a Mover in UTClassic, the only problem is that it returned the flag immediately when the Mover moved. But maybe it's different in UT2k4, you should give it a try.

The first UT engine was so much more flexible in so many ways.. Like dynamic lighting.. That was great. If only that were still possible in UT2 :(

[Crusha K. Rool]

UT2004 supports dynamic lightning, how else would you get the players lit?

The LightEffects in a normal Light is static because the light is rendered as lightmap on the BSP surfaces. However, you can get it to work with a lightsource that has bStatic = False, for example a TriggerLight or a simple Emitter-actor. Not all of those LightEffects do something and the light won't cast any shadows and too much of that really kills the performance, but it's still possible. Though projectors should be the better choice.


You can also get WarpZones to work here (and it's probably not as buggy as some people state), but it wouldn't work for vehicles and you get problems when you can see a WarpZone through another one. And it might get a small visual bug with the Flak, but that depends on how the WarpZones are situated to each other.

The UE2 offers so many things, at least it's very expandable with custom content.

[DannyBoy]

UT2004 supports dynamic lightning, how else would you get the players lit?

The LightEffects in a normal Light is static because the light is rendered as lightmap on the BSP surfaces. However, you can get it to work with a lightsource that has bStatic = False, for example a TriggerLight or a simple Emitter-actor. Not all of those LightEffects do something and the light won't cast any shadows and too much of that really kills the performance, but it's still possible. Though projectors should be the better choice.


You can also get WarpZones to work here (and it's probably not as buggy as some people state), but it wouldn't work for vehicles and you get problems when you can see a WarpZone through another one. And it might get a small visual bug with the Flak, but that depends on how the WarpZones are situated to each other.

The UE2 offers so many things, at least it's very expandable with custom content.

Yeh well I mean the lighteffects. I know the light is pre rendered and you can then add to it in-game with gunfire and such they call that dynamic light.. I mean real light effects.. Moving light like it promises in the light properties.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Yeah, and that works more or less fine when using a TriggerLight or Emitter. The light of those won't be pre-rendered and so the Effects work. But it might happen that you see some flickering that reminds more of a graphic bug (at least I have seen such a thing in the Unreal 1 Game mod), but I heard it would be solved if you enable VSync.

[DannyBoy]

Yeah, and that works more or less fine when using a TriggerLight or Emitter. The light of those won't be pre-rendered and so the Effects work. But it might happen that you see some flickering that reminds more of a graphic bug (at least I have seen such a thing in the Unreal 1 Game mod), but I heard it would be solved if you enable VSync.

Hehe :D I thought of another way too, since it wants to be pre-rendered, I'll just make everything a material sequence :D
Just have one dark pic, one light and set the motion to fade in gradual.. Sorted :D

[DannyBoy]

http://cid-d6d5ace371f57eb3.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/CarrierMod.rar

Some. I took the bits we need from that pack and put them in this link^
If we can get this mod on the private server, we can have a test run.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Why call it Carrier? It's the great Helix! :D

[DannyBoy]

Why call it Carrier? It's the great Helix! :D

I dunno :)

It looks like a carrier and nothing like a helix :D
Anyway that's just the folder name. The mod is still the same, I didn't re-name it or anything :redface:

Can't wait for your toolset man :)

[DannyBoy]

Right.. We tested the vehicle and it was fucking hilarious :D

I think we have the wrong version since it was leaving pickup spawns everywhere and somehow the player spawn points on the map I placed the vehicle on got screwed up too..? No idea how that happened, probably not related.
All the other stuff you mentioned is as it sould be, Crusha. Just the spawns still remain.

Cant wait to get the HP lowered so we can get some practical tests :)

[Some_Mate]

How can we summon the HelixESV2 in the private server?

[DannyBoy]

How can we summon the HelixESV2 in the private server?

How do you summon anything? What is the command to summon an object? I guess it would be a case of asking for the right name.

[Kammeh!]

Admin summon? ;) Paladin = Admin summon OnslaughtBP.ONSShockTank. Bit silly names, hard to remember. Don't know if you can summon custom vehicles.

[DannyBoy]

admin summon HelixESV2.HelixESVNew

I know where the names come from^ Just needed the command structure as an example.

It can be done I guess, but the game went totally insane when I tried :D

[Crusha K. Rool]

I don't know if the package needs to be loaded, i.e. if the vehicle needs to be in the map already, in case that it's not in the EditPackages/ServerPackages.

[DannyBoy]

If it's summoned to a map that doesn't already have it loaded it just goes on a total acid trip..

Tbh, I see the potential of this vehicle but there's so much going wrong with it..

It leaves a pile of ghost pickups everywhere, it screws up the players start points so everyone is spawning on one side, the side door guns are mostly just in the way and it doesn't need more firepower, the HP is totally over the top.

I'm starting to feel like this one is beyond repair.

Ideally I just want something like a raptor that can carry a player on the roof.

[Crusha K. Rool]

There are also the Air Power (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511095) vehicles, one of them is a troop carrier, but it works with seats, so I don't know if you can carry a flag in it.

But hey, it can carry a vehicle with it's magnetic lift. ;)



The final Helix shouldn't have any pickups anymore, they have been completely removed. You probably grabbed a wrong version.



Or you take this instead. http://www.worldofugly.de/ugly/973.gif

http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=581485

[DannyBoy]

It looks absolutely massive :D

August 2007 and it's an alpha version.. Looks like this one has been abandoned and that worries me.

[Crusha K. Rool]

I know, there's a Beta on Epic Forums that that seems to be even more awesome, but it says that it has no net support, so it will probably not work online properly. They said that they wanted to implement those features in UT3

[DannyBoy]

Want something done right, do it yourself I guess.. I'm not gonna get into the nightmare of making a vehicle though, so I guess this one just wont happen :(

[Crusha K. Rool]

It's been a while since I posted here for the last time, but I just wanted to show the progress of the project.

Today I finally got the biggest problem solved. That was to get the vehicles show up on the radar map in ONS.

Now the UltimateONSFactory is finished and I can start converting it to an UltimateVCTFFactory. That one will have all the features of the original (except those that doesn't make sense in non-ONS gametypes) and maybe also something similar to the feature to show vehicles on radar.
There is no radar in VCTF but in exchange shall there be an option (on a per-vehicle base) that allows to track a vehicle on the HUD like an objective in AS (for example a Hellbender-objective). The vehicle shall be displayed on the HUD if a flag carrier is inside, so it's easier to track those guys down if they want to go the speedy or save way.


Furthermore I will implement (and already have implemented) many things by other great coders of the community, for example many stuff by Wormbo from Jailbreak and the Wiki.


I also started and improved the documentation about this thing on my page at the Unreal Wiki: http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/User:Crusha/UltimateMappingTools

Still a long way to go, but the hardest stuff is done. The more complex things will probably be included in a later version.

[Some_Mate]

Thank you, I love how people still want to input good into UT2004! :D

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ok, then I repost my plans about creating an actor that makes the Radar map usable in VCTF. :)


The UltimateVCTFFactory is also basically finished (just had to throw a lot of the stuff from the ONSVehicleFactory out).

I am still figuring if a vehicle with a flag carrier inside should be shown in the HUD like an objective in AS.
But it's pretty much work probably…


Anyway, the new features of the Factory are:

-Picking a random vehicle from a list of possible vehicles to spawn or picking them in sequential order.

-Modifying some things about that vehicle like health, unlocking after enterring, spawn protection, driver ejection and whether the flag can be carried inside the vehicle.
(So you could have tanks that can't carry it or flyers that can carry it - might come in handy if you want to create maps in AirMars-style or if someone creates the UT3-hoverboard and you don't want the flag to be carried in usual vehicles anymore).

-MinigunTurrets are not unlocked to the enemy.


Nothing spectacular but all fine. :)

[Nova]

Your first two suggestions won't be easily combined m8. Keep that in mind, otherwise we'll have 200 health tanks and 800 health raptors. :p

[Crusha K. Rool]

Your first two suggestions won't be easily combined m8. Keep that in mind, otherwise we'll have 200 health tanks and 800 health raptors. :p

You mean randomly picking vehicles and custom health?

The things are picked from an array and each array entry is a struct in that you can specify every property for the individual entry.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ok, currently working on the Radar Map, but somehow it doesn't show up ingame. I set up some Log()s to track down the error, this is the result:


Log: ALAudio: Using ALC_EXT_capture to record audio.
ScriptLog: New Player [GSPB]Crusha id=08f1e333a3d379d86badd8cd9ca85a2a
Log: Opened viewport
Log: Enter SetRes: 1680x1050 Fullscreen 1
Log: Using back-buffer format 22(32-bit)
Log: Using depth-buffer format 77(32-bit)
Log: Creating device
Log: xD3DHelper::Init (QuadEmulation)
Log: SR: Failed to load grammar file ../Speech\CTF.xml
Log: Startup time: 6.799000 seconds
ScriptLog: VCTFRadarMapHUDOverlay - found Flag base xBlueFlagBase1
ScriptLog: VCTFRadarMapHUDOverlay - found Flag base xRedFlagBase0
ScriptLog: VCTFRadarMap0 - spawned HUDOverlay for local player
Log: Precaching: Autoplay.LevelInfo0
Log: Static mesh batches: 3328200 vertex bytes, 350046 index bytes
Log: Allocating 16384 byte dynamic index buffer.
Log: Preprocessing: Vertex stream total vertices: 180 Orig wedges: 180
Log: Preprocessing: Vertex stream total vertices: 542 Orig wedges: 542
Log: Preprocessing: Vertex stream total vertices: 319 Orig wedges: 319
Log: Finished precaching geometry in 0.666 seconds
Log: Finished precaching textures in 0.598 seconds
ScriptLog: START MATCH
That's all. The Render() looks like this and since it's Log() isn't called, it seems like the check to see if the Radar Map is allowed to be drawn doesn't pass:


================================================== ==========================
// bDrawRadar
//
// This function determines if we want to draw the radar or not.
// ================================================== ==========================

simulated function bool bDrawRadar()
{
if (!Level.bShowRadarMap) { return false; }
if (bMapDisabled) { return false; }

if (PCOwner == None) {return false; }
if (PCOwner.MyHud.bShowScoreboard) { return false; }
if (PCOwner.MyHud.bShowDebugInfo) { return false; }
if (PCOwner.MyHud.bShowVoteMenu) { return false; }
if (PCOwner.MyHud.bShowLocalStats) { return false; }
if (PCOwner.MyHud.bHideHud) { return false; }
if (PCOwner.Pawn == None) { return false; }
if (PCOwner.Pawn.bSpecialHud && !PCOwner.Pawn.IsA('Vehicle')) { return false; } // Player is a Redeemer missile.
if (PCOwner.ViewTarget != PCOwner.Pawn) { return false; }

return true;
}


================================================== ==========================
// Render
//
// Do some calculations on the shape of the radar map and deliver the Canvas to
// the DrawRadar-function.
// ================================================== ==========================

simulated function Render(Canvas C)
{
local float RadarWidth, CenterRadarPosX, CenterRadarPosY;
local vector MapCenter;

if (bDrawRadar())
{
Log(name @ "- allowed to draw radar");
C.Reset();

RadarWidth = 0.5 * RadarScale * PCOwner.MyHud.HUDScale * C.ClipX;
CenterRadarPosX = (RadarPosX * C.ClipX) - RadarWidth;
CenterRadarPosY = (RadarPosY * C.ClipY) + RadarWidth;
DrawRadar(C, CenterRadarPosX, CenterRadarPosY, RadarWidth, MapCenter);
}
}


Now we just need to find the issue in the top block. :)

PCOwner is the local PlayerController.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ok, if someone's interested in helping or just the code:
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=27541703#post27541703

I don't get it to work. :/

[Nova]

Why not make a log copy of each if-statement?

You can combine them all into one, btw. Also, doing if (PCOwner == None &&..) will make the if-statement break. If it finds a false, it will continue until the first or, or stops.

[Kammeh!]

You've written some gorgeous code, dude... which I had enough knowledge to help you. Hope there's enough intelligent folks around here to help you out! Good luck! ;)

*will shut up from now on*

[Crusha K. Rool]

Why not make a log copy of each if-statement?

You can combine them all into one, btw. Also, doing if (PCOwner == None &&..) will make the if-statement break. If it finds a false, it will continue until the first or, or stops.

I already got past that step, otherwise it wouldn't draw the border and stuff. ;)


And Kammeh, you don't need to shut up if you keep admiring me. :P

[Nova]

I already got past that step, otherwise it wouldn't draw the border and stuff. ;)

How can you be past that step (step being: make a log statement after every if-statement in your bDrawRadar() function) when your question is about said function?

[Crusha K. Rool]

How can you be past that step (step being: make a log statement after every if-statement in your bDrawRadar() function) when your question is about said function?

The new question is about the whole code, follow the link. The issue with the bDrawRadar was, that local PlayerController wasn't referenced when the Overlay was spawned.

[Nova]

For highlighting:


if (A != None)
{
Log(name @ "- PlayerIconActor != None");
PlayerIcon = FinalBlend'CurrentPlayerIconFinal';
TexRotator(PlayerIcon.Material).Rotation.Yaw = -A.Rotation.Yaw - 16384;
HUDLocation = A.Location - MapCenter;
HUDLocation.Z = 0;
if (HUDLocation.X < (RadarRange * 0.95) && HUDLocation.Y < (RadarRange * 0.95))
{
C.SetPos(CenterRadarPosX + HUDLocation.X * MapScale - PlayerIconSize * 0.5,
CenterRadarPosY + HUDLocation.Y * MapScale - PlayerIconSize * 0.5);

C.DrawColor = C.MakeColor(40,255,40);
C.DrawTile(PlayerIcon, PlayerIconSize, PlayerIconSize, 0, 0, 64, 64);
Log(name @ "- draw local player");
}
}

Full source code: http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=27541703#post27541703

The problem lies not in HudLocation, like you think you say in the epicgames thread. In your code, RadarRange is never set, so it stays zero.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Aw, yeah, I must have been blind. When I copied the code from the UltimateONSFactory I threw out the stuff where it clearly referenced the ONSHud.

Now it should get a proper radar range by using

local TerrainInfo T, PrimaryTerrain;

// Determine primary terrain
foreach AllActors(class'TerrainInfo', T)
{
PrimaryTerrain = T;
if (T.Tag == 'PrimaryTerrain')
Break;
}

// Set RadarMaxRange to size of primary terrain
if (Level.bUseTerrainForRadarRange && PrimaryTerrain != None)
RadarRange = abs(PrimaryTerrain.TerrainScale.X * PrimaryTerrain.TerrainMap.USize) / 2.0;
else if (Level.CustomRadarRange > 0)
RadarRange = Clamp(Level.CustomRadarRange, 500.0, class'ONSHUDOnslaught'.default.RadarMaxRange);


Will try it tomorrow. :)

[Crusha K. Rool]

There we go. :)
I still need to resisze the flag icons and maybe change their location a bit so that the end of the flag pole is at about the location of the flag, but all in all it's good this way.

The blue flag is black here because it's currently blinking since I stole it.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4174/vctfradarmap.jpg

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ok, one more thing do fix:
When the player controls the SPMA retice, the radar map disappears. Probably because of this line:


if (PCOwner.Pawn.bSpecialHud && !PCOwner.Pawn.IsA('Vehicle')) { Log(name @ "- Player is Redeemer missile"); return false; } // Player is a Redeemer missile.

But what class/object is the player when he controls the reticle?

EDIT: The log says, the problem is the line


ViewTarget != PCOwner.Pawn

[Nova]

Check out the SPMA vehicle. There's bound to be a reference to the hovery thingy.

Also, I'd advise to use a different icon for the flag, similarly abstract to the player's arrow. It looks a bit out of place and you can scratch the whole flagpole entirely then.

[Crusha K. Rool]

The icon looks better at it's current size and placement now. Another one is not a good option, imho, as the current one is directly out of a retail package that is already loaded at startup.

We can give the whole thing a try in an online match to get more feedback. :)

[Nova]

XInterface.S_FlagIcon is also retail. Might be an option as well.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Hmm, that thing still doesn't work, even though I use


if (PCOwner.ViewTarget != PCOwner.Pawn && !PCOwner.ViewTarget.IsA('ONSMortarCamera'))
or


if (PCOwner.ViewTarget != PCOwner.Pawn && ONSMortarCamera(PCOwner.ViewTarget) != None)
:frown:

EDIT: Ah, the latter line should be a ==, not a !=. But that still doesn't explain why the first version doesn't wortk. :d


That flag icon, though, does not fit the style of UT2k4, imho. That would be more something for the cleanish UT3 radar maps.

EDIT2: Second version also doesn't work. :(

[Crusha K. Rool]

Here is a version for public testing. All bugs should be fixed but I didn't care about replication. I hope the flags and flag bases are considered relevant enough by themselves. ;)

http://www.mediafire.com/?p04d0z4etn0d23t

[Some_Mate]

Looks like some awesome work is being done here! I don't think I'm going to be online until tomorrow night, but if I do get online I'll make sure it's uploaded to both servers ;) someone can remove it or add it to the map rotation if needed ;)

[lilalurl]

Finally had a bit of time to test it (offline ofc). Could not find any major issues. Notably tested it with ONSPlus on (the vehicle fixes it includes also work in VCTF) and off. Good job, as always.


As for the minor issues, I join GE and Sly's opinions in the Epic thread:

- The radar could use a bit of scaling up as you can get out of the border of the radar (http://tarantola.alexandre.free.fr/Crusha/Shot00439.jpg).
Not really important but if it happens on the left/bottom border of the radar, it could hide some things during a fight or at least be a distraction.

On the other hand, this kind of situation can be quite rare and scaling the radar up would mean a "loss" of details.

Also, I am unsure how much of the scaling is related to the actor and how much is the mapper 's choice.


- I really think it would be a good thing to be able to see your own flag when it is taken and you or one of your team mate sees it.

And of course have it disappear from the radar as soon as your team mate(s) with a line of sight to the flag no longer sees it. Or perhaps have the flag indicator remain at the last known position (although this could be confusing at first for some people I guess)

Not sure how much trouble it would be to do so though.


- A very small cosmetic issue. Unless I am mistaken, right now, when the two flags overlap, it is always the blue one which is on top. (http://tarantola.alexandre.free.fr/Crusha/Shot00440.jpg)
If possible, they should alternate position on the radar, let's say every second.
Or you could take a decision and have the enemy one always be on top. Or your own. I actually have no idea which will be best.




Finally, more a personal request (not sure if we already discussed about it), but is there any chance you could make it CTF4 (http://ctf4.apartment167.com/) compatible?

I know it is not VCTF and that it already has the dot radar thingie that indicates the direction of the flags.

But it would be very nice to have a radar like yours, notably given that CTF4 maps can be a bit larger than normal CTF maps.

It would mean implementing the green and gold flags position on the radar. Not sure how much work it would require (especially since the CTF4 code may use some specific tricks), so consider it a low priority request (much more interested in being able to see my team's flag when it is taken and seen by me or a team mate).

[Crusha K. Rool]

Oh, making it CTF4-compatible (I didn't know about it yet) would require just 4 more lines of code. ;)

I already change the draw colour depending on the team number of the objective, currently 0 being red and 1 being blue and white being everything else, as usual and the initial function is already set to find all CTFBases in the map and not only two.

I just need to know which number corresponds to what colour in CTF4. As long as CTF4 uses subclasses of CTFBase for the bases and uses the DefenderTeamIndex in the GameObjective property group to determine the team number of that flag, everything will work fine.



What do they mean with scaling the radar up? The size of the radar map window or the zoom of the map? The latter depends on the mapper. I set it up for this map to be only as far zoomed out as necessary. Could have been more but I didn't pay much attention at the sides when creating the screenshot, since the viewport doesn't end at the sides as early as at the top and bottom.

The icons shouldn't actually get out of the radar screen, as they will be only drawn if it's within 95% of the radar range. I need to take a look at the code then to see where the issue is.



Seeing the own flag when it was spotted, well that could be hard. And it would require constant checks at every update of the game loop and that means more strain on the performance. Besides that the HUDOverlay is a completely client-side thingy and so the check could only be done by players that are relevant to the local client and that is surely not the case for everyone.

I could try to let the actor that is placed in the map iterate over all players and perform some line of seight-checks, since that actor is also server-sidely available, but those checks are really bad for the performance.

Besides, I need to check anyway in netplay on this server if the replication stuff really works. It would be fine if you could wait with playing the map until I can join and watch. I need to do some experimenting that requires the players to help a bit instead of just going blindly for the flag.



Alternation of the flag would look bad to me, it would distract the players, I guess. Own or enemy… make a choice and I can implement that. Currently they are just drawn in order as they were spotted by the initial function that find the CTFBases.
EDIT: Ok, forget the last part. It wouldn't be nice to implement, especially when going for CTF4. I will leave it like it is now. Nobody will notice anyway. ;)

[lilalurl]

Oh, making it CTF4-compatible (I didn't know about it yet) would require just 4 more lines of code. ;)

Great!

CTF4 can be very fun, even with bots. Try CTF4-FaceClassic, with at least Masterful bots, 4 players by team (default I think), no translocator and no automatic flag return on touch (ie, need to carry it back to the base)(all by default I think).
Then when a flag gets near the central area and every team tries to take it, you will have a lot of action. Especially if it is your flag there :-). Ofc, you can try and be subtle, using the confusion to try and take other team flags.


If you happen to need a bit of help on the CTF4 implementation, OverloadUT (main coder for CTF4) had registered on Titan when Piglet and the others started to work on Freon4. He also is registered on Youtube (that's how I contacted him).




What do they mean with scaling the radar up? The size of the radar map window or the zoom of the map? The latter depends on the mapper. I set it up for this map to be only as far zoomed out as necessary. Could have been more but I didn't pay much attention at the sides when creating the screenshot, since the viewport doesn't end at the sides as early as at the top and bottom.

The icons shouldn't actually get out of the radar screen, as they will be only drawn if it's within 95% of the radar range. I need to take a look at the code then to see where the issue is.

I can't be 100% certain but I am pretty sure that, like me, Sly.'s post (http://forums.epicgames.com/showpost.php?p=27543931&postcount=30) was referring to the fact that the icons can get out of the radar screen.



Seeing the own flag when it was spotted, well that could be hard.

[...]

It would be fine if you could wait with playing the map until I can join and watch. I need to do some experimenting that requires the players to help a bit instead of just going blindly for the flag.

Well, you know, admins can always force a map when there is some testing needed ;-).


Anyway, I am pretty sure that this will be one of the / the most requested feature(s).



Alternation of the flag would look bad to me, it would distract the players, I guess. Own or enemy… make a choice and I can implement that. Currently they are just drawn in order as they were spotted by the initial function that find the CTFBases.


EDIT: Ok, forget the last part. It wouldn't be nice to implement, especially when going for CTF4. I will leave it like it is now. Nobody will notice anyway. ;)


But, but, ... people will use it as an excuse to stack in the blue team since they will want to be in the team that is always on top ;-).


Anyway, it was not that important.

Hmmm, it makes me think that I never paid attention (not sure if I had an opportunity to see it) to which colour is displayed on top in the JB real-time radars when to players are at the same coordinates (different floors or when one is jumping of the other one)..


PS: If you like CTF4, you might want to check BR4 which also gives some new blood to the traditional gametype:
http://www.uncommonplace.com/games/

I also recommend Bombing Spree, with 3 balls (which gives one of each colour + one neutral). Very interesting matches this way.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ok, should work fine now, I already set it up but didn't test it yet.

What I also did, was making this whole thing a UniversalRadarMap, so it should properly work in any CTF gametype as well as in any BombingRun gametype (also with Multiple Bombs Mutator and in BR4) and in any DoubleDomination gametype (although I don't display the additional letters in the reticles if the gametype features more than two DominationPoints).

There is also an option to show non-classified gameobjectives, what should make it also work in Assault. In that case should it show all currently active gameobjectives that are none of those mentioned above with as a rotating reticle.

[lilalurl]

What I also did, was making this whole thing a UniversalRadarMap [...]

Fantastic job.



There is also an option to show non-classified gameobjectives, what should make it also work in Assault. In that case should it show all currently active gameobjectives that are none of those mentioned above with as a rotating reticle.

Assault? I guess )o( since they seem to have an active enough community on this gametype are a good choice to see if some people want to test that.

Not sure how many of them are playing/mapping for both Assault and Onslaught.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Assault is pretty dead at )o(, afaik.

And there are fairly few AS-mappers out there. Anyway, if it works in VCTF then it should work everywhere else as well.

[Rawboneuk]

So yeah we played with your radar-map today on the public server. The only thing it showed was where i was. That was all. No flags. No nothin ;)

[Crusha K. Rool]

Wow, nothing? I almost can't believe that. It should have at least showed the location of the flag if it was a base and you were looking at it… :confused:


Maybe I will join after a meal and hopefully I can inspect the problem myself if some admin forces the map or the players are willing to vote it. :)

[Some_Mate]

just join our private server pass = budweiser
can vote it as much as you like there :)

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ehm, ok... is it visible from the server browser?

EDIT: Ok, got it.

[DannyBoy]

Just had a thought on this "radar" thing.

What if it was a full radar that showed all enemy players and flag but it was an adrenaline combo^
Could call it "Recon" or something :D

[Crusha K. Rool]

Maybe I should post an update on the Radar. ;)

It works as intended, also online. But I'd like to implement also the big RadarMap Tab as you know if from ONS to show enemies and/or teammates on that one. But I don't know how to create such a Tab, so I was actually waiting for Wormbo, who wanted to do something with the ONSRadar Tab in his OnslaughtSpecials, but he said that it will take some time until he releases the next version, so I am not sure when that will happen.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Ok, update on the current progress:

-Added UltimateDestroyableEnvironemt: This is a subclass of Decoration and looks like a plain StaticMesh on the first moment, but it can take damage and reach different "Levels of Destruction" if it takes a customizable amount of damage. When a LoD is reached, several things can happen:
* change the StaticMesh (for example to a more destroyed version) and scale/move it.
* spawn xEmitter or Emitter classes or the editinline customizable Sub-Emitters from the usual Emitter-actor.
* play sounds.
* spawn KarmaThings with editinline customizable KParams (means you can spawn physic simulated chunks that the player can interact with).

-Added TeamSpecificActors by Nova. Those now also have the ability to use the closest objective to determine their teamnumber.
Now I just need to documentate them for the Wiki. -.-
But actually that's a good chance to test the GUI that I made for Wormbo's UnrealScript-Wikifier (in Java). :D

-Added KarmaWakingVolume. It forces any Pawn or KActor in it to wake up it's Karma simulation (Pawns only if they are in Phys_Karma or Phys_KarmaRagdoll state). That's bad on the first look as it will prevent Karma from being disabled if the actor doesn't move anymore, but allows to build lifts that can transport vehicles. Without this Volume, empty vehicle would stay at their old location if the lift moves and occupied vehicles still had some chance to fall through in online matches.

-Added DynamicWeatherActors by MarZer. Unfortunately I couldn't contact him because he's legacy, his website is down and he didn't provide any contact information in form of help files or even as Contact option in Epic's forum. But he provided the source code in the package and encouraged mappers to develop their own stuff to enhance the tools, so I think he's fine if I put it in here.
Features of DynamicWeather:

Triggerable rain (thx mrslate + Recondite!)
Triggerable (day/night) ambient sounds
Fading lights (between 2 colours): Simulate night and day
Triggerable lights (on and off, between two colours)
New lighting effects (Fire Flicker)
Charging light ('charges' up or down between a definable brightness level when triggered)
Distance fog that can fade between 2 different colours and distances
REAL Hail that falls realistically, can damage objects it lands on
Meteors that can either randomly fall into a level or be triggered to fire on something
Lightning that damages whatever it hits, can be stationary or randomly zap (pun intended http://forums.epicgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif ) around the level
Earthquakes that cause the ground to rumble, the further away from the epicentre the less the rumble
A REAL fire actor that can be either burning or dead then triggered to burn, burns things (causes damage) and has a realistic flickering light
Ambient monster spawner that allows a mapper to have a number of weaker monsters inhabit a level, have no impact on score (unless gametype is invasion)
Whimsical death messages for any deaths caused by dear old Mother Nature
Timed trigger that can trigger an event at regular or semi-regular intervals
Twister that randomly wafts around a level and sucks things upNow I hope that Wormbo finishes the next version of his OnslaughtSpecials quickly so that I can take a look at how MidGamePanel tabs are done for the radar stuff.



Here is a list of all files currently in this package:
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/7352/ultimatemappingtools.png

[Rawboneuk]

holy shit i just got home from wedding, this is confusing shit. I'll try again tommorrow, hahah at least i can type good fuck you Kammeh i dont even press delete once :D

[Crusha K. Rool]

…but here I come and release the long announced stuff. I quote myself here from the Epic Forum, it makes things easier. :)

Maybe Lila can update the first post of this thread once he notices it.


After more than one year of tedious work and testing and bugfixing and getting overwhelmed with new ideas that want to be implemented, I now managed to actually put out a release!

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/User:Crusha/UltimateMappingTools
(Download link on that page, together with the manual)


In case you didn't hear about my project before:
UMT is a toolset that I created with the goal to put together one single package that would be enough to make any mapper happy without ever feeling like there is something missing.
For this purpose did I code a lot myself but also gathered, with the permissions of the authors, scripts scattered all over the web and bundled them here.
So included are also:
Some tools from Jailbreak (renamed to avoid potential conflicts) and Wormbo in general
Nova's TeamSpecificActors
MarZer's DynamicWeatherActors
KillBait's VehicleTeleporter
Party Boy's ParallaxSkyZoneInfo
Unkown author's KarmaThing

Some highlights from my own stuff:
UltimateVehicleFactory (for ONS and VCTF/any gametype separately)
You can tweak every detail that could matter for balancing. You can even track the vehicle on the radar map, like Leviathans in UT3 are tracked!
CullDistanceVolume
Just put this Volume around your map and it will assign CullDistances based on the mesh's size. A very quick and very efficient way to gain performance. I gained more than 100% average performance in my test map and up to 40 frames difference for both, Min and Max FPS.
UltimateRadarMap
A single Actor that you place in your map and it will give you an ONS-like minimap (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4174/vctfradarmap.jpg). It supports tracking of GameObjectives in all default UT2k4 gametypes and 4-teams gametypes as well as Multi-Bombing Run and Triple Domination.
UltimateDestroyableEnvironemt
Looks like a plain StaticMeshActor and behaves in any other way like one, but in fact can this Actor change it's whole appearance based on damage that it takes. It can even spawn physically simulated KActors as wreckage that work in online games.
LogicGate
AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND and NOR find their way into the trigger system of the UE2. Together with a whole lot of new Trigger-related Actors and ScriptedActions can you create completely new gameplay mechanics in maps.

Enjoy it and let me know what you think and report any bugs you encounter, although I really hope there are none left after all that testing. :)

[Heimddallr]

"CullDistanceVolume" is an interested tools.
I discovered today. I should test it.
like i 've got some problem with a map, i ll take time to read that. :smile:


You could add a new tool. A nova's mover with 2 triggers.
http://www.vehiclemasters.co.uk/showpost.php?p=37974&postcount=43

[Crusha K. Rool]

Nah, this thing is closed for new submissions now. I hope I will never have to touch it a gain, it became quite a demon to me. ;)

Besides that it includes the UltimateMover, aka Wormbo's JBMoverDualDestination, which combines the best out of 4 other movers in one.

[Heimddallr]

Crusha, one question. do the different tools work with anticc ?
I believe the movervolume will be denied by the anticc.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Why should it be denied? And which MoverVolume do you mean? The DynamicPhysicsVolume?
These are all valid features to be used by mappers as part of the map, so why should AntiTCC have objections against map features?