Urban Terror Forums: [RC] UrT 4.3 Release Candidate 4 - Urban Terror Forums

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Well I'm not a coder but in my experience, more so when it comes to UrT/idtech3, is the words simple or easy can not be applied to anything that looks simple or easy as the code base has more Band-Aids than the Red Cross. As a problem this issue was created by adding content first then modifying the code to fit the game rather than following the proper way of conforming the content to fit the rules of code that prevents the unpredictable from occurring.

So yes at first glance changing specs could involve moving a few values around but if done with out regressive testing can produce more problems that are not predictable and do not show up until after release.

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I would like to be able to fix things in general as far as weapons goes but UrT/Quake3 being a 16 year old game requires 16 year old tools that no longer works under Windows 10, which dame me I upgrade to, so if it's an annoyance fix would require a lot of work to set things up again for a single task. It has been suggested that code could be added that pulls the recoil back but once again is a added Band-Aid that would be difficult and time consuming to be sue the result is predictable.

Getting things into the game is part of the core problems we face as far as obsolesce by design goes and although we have the resources to get the job done fixing things that needs to be fixed is limited by the fact the MD3 exporter no longer works with current versions of 3ds Max 2015.


Soooooo

Yes there is always a chance but as I recommended should be done with intent and not as a here and there Band-Aid.


Of general interest.

I've suggested more than a few times that adding FBX support to all tools involving idtech3 would add new life to both the game engine as well as tools like Radiant and this would be a huge slice of hero pie for any coder looing to do a community based effort.

ringel, on 24 June 2016 - 11:23 AM, said:

Would be interested in where you get your numbers.

Any rate 4.1 was anything but healthy, which I can get into if you wish, but 4.1 was the version the most of the older players had learned a work around as to the base problem.

There is no question that 4.2 was a bumpy start but as mentioned more than once but this was caused by stripping the game down and starting from scratch considering that 4.2 was suppose to be a maintenance build with the plan to shut down development of any future development. This meant no more Frozen Sand period.

The demise of Clan Base, as it's no longer around, had a negative impact as to the over all popularity with in the competitive community as it cut the number of organized matches by half for reason that had nothing to do with 4.2 or what FS was or was not doing.


Comments in General not targeted towards a single individual.

That being said the solution to the problems has nothing to do with changing specs once again but more volunteers willing to work hard for free to fix the things that are low on the list of priorities. If you are a coder with mad coding skills and want to fix the problems with bots and willing to put up with the hate as well as the head on keyboard moments then "please" sign the paper work and we will give you full access to everything you need and a place to work.

This is what we need. We need bodies willing to do the grunt work equal to what would be consider ditch digging, give it to the PA, work.

Soooooo

I think for now on my response as to suggestions will be "Great can you fix it? ;)" as personally with 4.3 becoming a code only project, mostly, I would love to see the level of on staff highly skilled coders, who get paid tens of thousand of dollars a year for their skills, increase to work in areas that they are not interested in improving.

Popularly of the game.

Define popular. After 16 years a free game with no network support like Steam it's a miracle there is still a game called Urban Terror as it has been around longer than a fair number of those who play the game have been alive. The big number though is the loss of the 16 year old who is now 32 years of age and has a wife, kids, mortgage, car payments, put food on the table.

The root of the problem is not with specs, or loss of interest in the competitive community, but the inability to replace players as their priority changes and the lack of funds on our part to bulk advertise, to compete with the rest of the so called free to play games, to replace the decay.

Solution to the problem? Give FS tones of money for nothing to advertise. :D

That said as a semi-rant, and as I already mentioned, agree that an audit for things like weapon specs needs to be preformed due to the things that I know are different between 4.1 and 4.2 as what has changed but would be a service as to the current player base but will do nothing as far as keep the current player levels or reverse the decay due to changes as to priorities.

Of interest one of the reasons we loss developers is because their better half just had a baby. ;)

As to listening to the community?

We do all the time and most are not in the loop so to speak or do not see what's going on from behind the blue curtain but if you want to see what's going on get off the fence and join QA as that is where most of the action occurs. Things happen in there as to changes that you can see being done long before a release is made available for download.

This is where you will see Barbie fix more than a dozen bugs, on the fly, in a single day just because he has some free time to spare

I could go on and on about how FS listens but the fact of the matter is UrT will live or die on the efforts off it's community members who do more than suggest with little or no fan fair at all.

That kind of out of the way we LOVE or community as we are/were part of it in the first place and no different than anyone else just because we wear the blues.

We LOVE it when someone has something to say good or bad and more times than not can only node in agreement but can do little as to the things we know as being fact which is not common knowledge as no one saying anything at all means that the game is truly dead and time to move on.

If there are questions as to why something was done feel free to ask and we will see if we can come up with reasonable answer as we are not trying to hide anything except for what may have a negative impact on those who play the game.

If you can provide free work by all means contact Barbie, more so if you can code, and we will load you up with so much work that you will not come up for air for months.

With that wall of text out of the way of course is just my opinion that once again will not change anything and just more back ground static that will get lost in the forums bit bucket.

Bottom line.

Join, contribute, or give us a ton of bucks so we can buy popularity. :D

P.S.P.S

To try and solve a problem which we been rather bad at is giving credit where credit is due so I would like to personally say thanks to KroniK for solving the 44mag reload problem on his own and pushing the fix.

That's how its done buddy. :D

ringel, on 24 June 2016 - 08:52 PM, said:

Your welcome and to keep it short.

There was a massive bug in the 4.1 scan hit code where hit collision was only being detected 85% of the time as to the 100% first hit rule creating a false specification which had to be fixed. There was other stuff but this was the big one.

There are two agreements to sign.

1) NDA: More or less an agreement that you will not share assets and game code with anyone else that has not signed the NDA. More or less to keep the code out of the hands of the cheat coders as well only applies to talking about stuff that's not on the developers turf. I can talk about what I'm doing all day long but talking about what Barbie is doing is a no no.

2) CA-Contributors Agreement. The CA is a non-exclusion agreement written as work for hire but the dev/author maintains full copyrights that is not an exclusive trademark to Frozen Sand. More or less a modified agreement that includes and fills both MIT and CC0 licensing requirement.

The CA is required so if someone rage quits does not take their stuff and leaves.

The two are required as policy and is required if full access is desired to the HD project as well as it contains licensed commercial assets.

The perception that Frozen Sand owns all things code and content is wrong and I don't think anyone on the team feels that they are not working on a open-source project. If you have any question PM Barbie as he is king of the coders.

Last bit sorry to say 4.2 had to happen as far as putting Humpty Dumpty back together again but 4.3 is probably the opportunity to get other things done that matter...to someone else. :D

Good job on the Magnum Kronik. This is a very useful and desired skill you're developing.