November 4th, 2004Serverlist Not Working?IGN/GameSpy has done some rearranging, it seems. Planetquake.com is now on a vhost, meaning the old method used to retrieve the serverlist no longer works. I'm in the process of fixing it for build 13. In the meantime, you can go to /servers.txt and save that as paintball2\pball\servers.txt, then load up paintball2 and hit "refresh" (not "update"). October 29th, 2004ATi Framerate FixAs I'm sure many of you have noticed, Paintball2 has run very poorly on the past few Catalyst driver releases. I have finally discovered where the problem lies in their drivers, and fortunately there's a workaround. Bring down the console (hit ~) and type the following:
seta gl_ext_pointparameters 0 vid_restart
You should notice a 5-10x speed improvement, especially when smoke grenades are present. October 28th, 2004PasswordsIf your current forum password the same or similar to passwords you use for other activities (instant messaging, online banking, PayPal, other forums, etc), it is important that you CHANGE THOSE PASSWORDS IMMEDIATELY. Hackers managed to compromise data on GameSpy's Linux servers, which potentially includes any information you entered into these forums. We apologise for any inconvenience, but as a security note, you should never use the same password on a public forum as you do with online banking or any other financially-related system. October 26th, 2004Sorry for the DowntimeApparently there was some bboard software that compromised the security of the dynamic servers, so GameSpy had to take them offline for a bit. Hopefully everything will run smoothly now. September 24th, 2004Paintball2 Build 12 ReleasedSince I didn’t make an official release of build 11, I’ll list all the new features since build 10:
- Cvar: m_xp [0, 1, 2] When set to 1, disables mouse acceleration on WindowsXP. 2 disables acceleration on any Windows version. 0 acts like regular Quake2. - Cvar: gl_showtris [0 or 1] Now functions properly with multitexture enabled (works with deathmatch 0 only). - Cvar: cl_drawpps [0 or 1] Displays packets per second sent on the HUD, much like cl_drawfps. - Bugfix: Serverlist no longer crashes while running off CD (though it won't update either, obviously). - Bugfix?: Server code no longer drops clients who overflow. Seems better than disconnecting, but may lead to fubar data. - Bugfix: Removed check for data CD so it doesn't probe all your drives for something that doesn't exist. - Bugfix: Stopped game from dropping to 10fps while connecting to a server (still sends data at 10pps, though) - Bugfix: cl_cmdrate functions more like it should. Packets/sec sent is closer to set value now. - Bugfix: RScripts now function properly with HR4 (high-res) textures. - Feature: Mappers can specify "requiredfiles" in the worldspawn to specify any additional files the client will need to download (such as RScript files). - Feature: Doubleclicking supported in menus (seen in join and start server menus). - Feature: RScripts support width and height parameters and no longer require a source image to exist - useful for HUD images. - Feature: Added support for a unique in-game menu. - Feature: Chat is handled client side and can thus be colored according to teams, etc. (requires 1.80 or higher server game code). - Feature: Client-side scoreboards and events. Less bandwidth is used and scores can be viewed at any time, even with prerecorded demos (requires 1.80 or higher server game code). - Feature: Loc file support from NoCheat client. Example: say_team "I'm at $loc_here going to $loc_there" Type loc_help for more information. Paintball2 1.802 ServerThis is available for both Windows (included in build 12 release) and Linux. Here’s a list of what’s new since 1.774:
Gameplay Changes - KOTH (King of the Hill) support -- there are ent files included for ksplat2, koth, and yoy that allow you to play them in KOTH mode. Teams get a point for each x number of seconds they stay on the hill (controllable by “koth_hilltime”). There are no rounds and the respawn time, controllable by “koth_elim”, is defaulted to 5 seconds. - "flagmustbeatbase" cvar requires all of the flag carrier's team's flags to be at home before the carrier can capture the flag. This makes maps like castle1 much more interesting and no longer a rabid capfest. - “flagcapendsround” cvar (actually implement in a previous version, but I’ll mention it here since it works well with the above setting) ends the round as soon as the flag is captured. Especially handy when you have that one newbie left alive hiding in the corner while the other team keeps doing flag runs -- this way they can only get one capture. - Gun freezing. In order to discourage the squat-n-spray tactics that are becoming ever-so-prevalent (two guys sitting around the corner from each other spraying a stream of paint waiting for the other to walk into it), this was added. As long as you don’t spray nonstop it shouldn’t be a problem. “guntemp_inc” and “guntemp_dec” control how quickly the freeze bar increases and decreases. The default values are pretty forgiving right now, but I’d like to make it stricter in the future. - Overtime. If the scores are tied when the timelimit is reached, the map goes into overtime for 2 minutes (or whatever is specified by the “overtime” cvar). There are also some fine-tuning options. If “overtime_0” is set, the map will go into overtime even if the scores are all 0. If overtime_4team is set, all teams must have unique scores (useful for a 4-team tournament that requires specific rankings for each team).
New Rotation System - mapinfo files allow you to specify the minimum and maximum player counts for a map to load, thus eliminating overcrowded servers on tiny maps and near-empty servers on gigantic maps. They also allow for the cycling of game modes, so you can play something like midnight in 1-flag mode or halfpipe in deathmatch mode. - Map voting. Rather than simply changing to the map with the most votes, votes accumulate. Each person gets one vote per map. One person voting for a map over the sequence of 5 map changes counts the same as 5 people placing a single vote for the same map. All maps also get one auto-vote. That keeps things cycling in a normal rotation. Basically voting for a map bumps it up one position in the rotation. The map with the most votes gets played then its vote count gets reset to 0. You can also vote for different game modes. “votemap <mapname> <gamemode>” is the command, but there’s also a GUI menu for it in build 12. You can even vote for maps that aren’t in the rotation and they will be added but get no autovotes. They must be voted to the top of the list. The “sv_votemaptime” cvar controls how long (in seconds) players have to vote at the end of the map. - Remote admins can easily alter the map list with the “rotation” command. It allows for the dynamic addition, deletion, and saving of maplists. - "newmap" command supports a gamemode parameter. Example: "newmap midnight 1flag"
Misc. Stuff - can now specify "requiredfiles" in the map worldspawn and the client will download specified files (requires client build 11 or higher). - In order to make things fair and reduce wasted bandwidth, "sv_maxfps" limits the client cl_maxfps (Quake2) and cl_cmdrate (Paintball2). Default is 80. Note: There are some issues related to joysticks on the standalone Paintball2 client that cause it to send more data than it should and may result in getting you kicked for repeatedly exceeding the limit. - "fadetoblack" cvar fades screen to black when a person is eliminated so they can't ghost recon. - "observerblackout" cvar makes observer's screen black during rounds so they can't provide recon. - Code reworked to allow for client-side scoreboard, encoded messages, etc. Lots of cool stuff for players using build 12.
Bugfixes - In Siege mode, upon winning the round and reaching the fraglimit, it ends the game instantly rather than starting an new round then ending it. - Teams no longer get points for ffire while on defense in Siege mode. - In CTF, 2nd flag no longer appears on stand at round end if someone is carrying it. - Players sorted by kills, then deaths. - Nothing is displayed when the chat string is empty (ie: pressing t then hitting enter). - Spawn with weapons now works properly with expert mode. - Fixed a potential crash on linux servers related to the password setting. - Funname fixed for botcmd so you can properly rename your bots now, ie: sv botcommand ACEBot_1 funname Jack - fixed problem with noname bots. - Idle checks are stricter now. Some input devices (such as joysticks) made players appear to not be idle even though they were. Now if they don’t move in the number of seconds specified by the “idle” cvar, they get knocked into observer. Also, if they are in observer when the map changes, they won’t autojoin a team. - Fixed crash relating to double kills while on maps where you spawn with weapons (often seen on bigarenaball). - Fixed skin check -- at some point I made it impossible to change skins. - Deathmatch winner determined by kills then deaths (not just the first player with the most kills). - “viewgib” command now displays a proper death message.
Small Tweaks - Negative skill makes bots not shoot. - Dropped item reduction (dead players only drop what other players NEED) -- reduces lag. - smoke fades out slowly. Transitions to/from smoke also smoothed out. Intensity of smoke increased somewhat. - "ver" / "gameversion" command extended to show server executable version. - When the last person on a team leaves, rather than instantly ending the map, it has a timer to give people a chance to resume the game. - Intermission time now controllable by "intermissiontime" cvar. - Got rid of the 12g CO2 on HUD while dead / observer. - “tossgren” now takes parameters: timed and impact. Default depends on gren_explodeonimpact setting. - “g_writestats” cvar dumps the statistics of each player (shots fired, hits, time alive, etc) to the server console. Very primitive right now. Eventually I want to expand that to upload statistics to a global database. - "cvar_get" command. - "cvar_set" updated to have all necessary cvars. - if you try to use the same name as someone else, you get (1) tagged on the end (or (2), or (3)...).