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Suggestion about the future.
Soldat Forums - Soldat Talk - Game Improvements / Suggestions
that fuking sniper
June 12, 2004, 10:03 am
Ok, first of all, lets get rid of the trivial matters: I wasnt really sure where I should put this topic, but since its a suggestion I thought I might just well put it here.

In the upcoming patch, as we all know, a weapon editor will be released. Since I first thought about this till today I thought this will just break up the community due to excessiveness and diversity of modes, that will just conflict with eachother. I predicted that the community will be so devided that it will also collapse. This is problem mainly lies in the discomfort of having to do the manual "copy/paste" job one often imagines himself doing when he needs to handle game mods.

My suggestion is to have a "mod changer" menu added to the ones we already have at Soldat startup, it should look fairly like the accounts page, it should list the mod names one after the other, and change for the user, which is extremely simple and straightforward. I suggest a special page forumla be made (such as the soldat.ini or taunts.ini) so the program will be able to recognize the name of the mod. Furthermore, the lobby should list what mod is used in the server corresponding to its row.

This will make playing with the miryad upcoming mods much more fluid and simple, just as Soldat was made to be. If not, people would have to download mods, arrange games or test servers out by themselves to see if they have the right mod, and the process of manually changing it can be a real pain in the ass sometimes (most of the time).

This will be especially true as one will start seeing the ever-predictable "NOO BARRETS MOD!" or "BARRET = SNIPER RIFLE MOD", not forgetting all the ones that are going to be made by 8 year-olds who dont care about balance, wanting only to mess around with overpowered edited weapons. So navigating through all of the ones that are tottal crap and the ones that are worth playing can also be a headache. Imagine trying to organize these by yourselves when you have about 5-6 mods thrown all around the Soldat folder. But then again, maybe its just me.

I'm open for (constructive) criticism. *Hides in WW1 trench*

Edit: This is, of course, assuming that Michal hasnt thought of something similar to this, or even better. But then again, who knows?

cup_of_squirrels
June 12, 2004, 10:57 am
Amen. Possible the best idea yet. Even better than my MOTD idea :D add it!!!

Zoolander
June 12, 2004, 10:58 am
No need to worry about flames this is a legit post.

100% agree with you.

Hitman
June 12, 2004, 11:03 am
quote:I thought this will just break up the community due to excessiveness and diversity of modes, that will just conflict with eachother.That's what Chak said a while back and I totally agree, it could/will happen, and it's a scary thought.quote:My suggestion is to have a "mod changer" menu added to the ones we already have at Soldat startup, it should look fairly like the accounts page, it should list the mod names one after the other, and change for the user, which is extremely simple and straightforward. I suggest a special page forumla be made (such as the soldat.ini or taunts.ini) so the program will be able to recognize the name of the mod. Furthermore, the lobby should list what mod is used in the server corresponding to its row.This would be great, as you said, would certainly make things much easier.

Me likes.

Blue Devil
June 12, 2004, 11:44 am
agree! and a default mod, so you can have the old weapon settings, should be great!

Silent-Thunder
June 12, 2004, 12:02 pm
wow, truly you sir, are a genius

bucky_brad
June 12, 2004, 3:43 pm
yeh i like it but how did michal say we are going to get other's mods? is it going to be downloaded off the server when we join or will we need it before we join? like getting it off the forums?

Deleted User
June 12, 2004, 4:26 pm
bucky_brad: Yes, I remember him saying you will automatically get the mod from the server. I'm not sure if it will download new files though. I expect soldat will work on a system of a 'weapons' folder in the directory with 'ak74.wep' files or something. The server will basically use the stats in this file to play the game. So basically, when you join someones server, the game will play with the stats they have installed, and you won't need to download anything. Much in the same way you can play in a server without having to download their custom bots first. I believe this because Michal struggled with a way of downloading custom maps from servers, which is why it hasn't been implemented (I think).

N1nj@
June 12, 2004, 6:23 pm
TFS got a point there. This will certainly split the community into different groups. I think it will have the same effect as how Half life is. Lots of mods are released for example, the well known Counter-Strike mod, and that took more than half the size of its community.

If someone came up with a unique and special idea when the weapon editor comes out, things will certainly change around here, it won't be the same...(which is sad, IMO)

n00bface
June 12, 2004, 7:17 pm
i didn't think anyone knew what the weapon editor would be like, and i totally doubt it's going to be anything like you said it would be (Unless you somehow got michal to tell you)

that fuking sniper
June 12, 2004, 8:19 pm
Well, so far whenever you needed to change mods, taunts, or custom maps, you had to manually transfer/edit them in a correct way or they wont really work. This pretty much explains the first impression I had, and still have, about the weapon editor.

About automatically downloading mods from servers: I dont really know how anyone expects that to work. Soldat lags enough on its own as it is right now. Imagine a server having 3-4 (thats a low number, but the majority of servers are DSL and Cables) players in it while trying to give the currently-played mod out to one or two users that are trying to join. How would it affect the gameplay for the people in the server?

Notice that the more capable the server, the more players tend to be in it. T1-T3 servers are very popular and will normally have 10+ people. Imagine that while trying to upload the mod to 3 others at the same time. Wouldnt it mess up the game?

And even if we disregard the gameplay being hindered to the people in the server; most servers, like I said, are DSL and Cables, how fast is it to download a mod anyway?

I know, this all depends on ever-changing numbers and such, and who knows what wonders Michal might work in the netcode? But understand that I'm coming from a point of view that rests in experience. This is how I predict things will happen because thats how they always were. In the end, this is *my* suggestion, and if Michal makes the server-download thingy work really good, everyone will be satisfied, wont they? This is for a situation where server-based mod downloading doesnt work.

morpheus
June 12, 2004, 8:32 pm
if the mod files were hosted on a remote server, and the link to the mod files was sent from the soldat server to the person trying to join, that person could download the files from the remote and you'd have no need to download from the soldat server.

SERIAL KILLeR
June 12, 2004, 8:39 pm
Anyhow the weapons-stats file has to be downloaded from the server to check if they are the same as the ones u have.
Otherwise u could cheat realy easy...

DeMonIc
June 13, 2004, 3:08 pm
I support this idea.

sanity
June 13, 2004, 4:54 pm
if michal does anything with the weapons it should be getting rid of the autos [:D]. by the way, nice speech TFS [:P].

Askur
June 13, 2004, 5:36 pm
TFS: You da man!

" bucky_brad: Yes, I remember him saying you will automatically get the mod from the server. "
There must be a reason for why we don't automaticly download maps from servers (or does everyone do that except me due to stupid router settigns?) I'm sure you will not automaticly download the mods. I hope that the lobby server lists what mod is being used in what server.

KnOt
June 14, 2004, 9:45 pm
You seem to have thought of all the angles/problems/possibilities sniper boy.. I wonder what Michal has up his sleve to 'save the community'.. Or maybe he just doesn't give a bollocks.

Chakra
June 14, 2004, 11:51 pm
One more thing.

Alot of people are going to be designing their mods with certain graphics/themes in mind. So, with this fancy built-in mod changer, it shouldn't just change the weapon settings, but also any graphic, sound, and even interface changes. Imagine all the star wars, anime, viking, halo mods...

Unfortunately though, this would dramatically hinder any kind of 'auto download' of mods from servers themselves. If it was just a matter of 2kb of code for the weapon settings I imagine that could be possible.


Just a thought by the way, but do you reckon we'll see a day when one of the future mods becomes infinitely more popular than standard soldat?

..what am I saying, of course we will...it'll be the [:-censored]ing counter-strike mod.

N1nj@
June 15, 2004, 12:14 am
doubt Chakra, counter-strike mod in Soldat is not going to win.

GO DRAGONBALLZ!!

that fuking sniper
June 15, 2004, 12:53 am
Those who like CS mods can go ahead and play CS? Same for Halo and other such [:-censored]. If you like a game enough to mimic another game in its example, go ahead and play the original. This is *Soldat*, not CS or Halo, and you wont be seeing me playing any mods trying to live up to another game. The reason I'm playing Soldat right now is that I prefer to play it over any given option for another game.

The mods I'm looking for are strictly gameplay balancers, and I doubt there arent many that think the same.

Element_101
June 15, 2004, 2:34 am
Nice speach TFS, your speach's always seem to be dramatic.

Any way to the point: These are good ideas! As for the mod name being shown in the lobby I cant imagine why this hasn't been suggested before.

As for your views on the community breaking up when the editor comes out I have to disagree with you there, this is a very strong commuity and im sure that it will pull through the hard times ahead that is assuming n00bs dont invade the forums and take it over, much as the CS forums...

Da cHeeSeMaN
June 15, 2004, 8:44 am
omg... i never thought about this.......

DeMonIc
June 15, 2004, 9:57 am
Holy [:-censored], ure right!
That's the feedback of popularity: the brainless n00bs.We have to do somethin to prevent this.. I don't want soldat 2 end up like CS!! nooooo!

KiLLBoT
September 5, 2004, 12:27 am
TFS = Win.