It's finally here, a BETA version of Korax Arena 1.1, this release brings many improvements over the past version, it fixes many bugs and adds great stuff for gameplay, here are the main fixes for this version. [size=85:oht3mjur]----------------------------------------------- CHANGES IN 1.1 BETA ----------------------------------------------- [color=#0040FF:oht3mjur]FIXES: - Many, many fixes to bots AI, bots will now react differently depending certain conditions in battles. - Fixed many crashes in CTF and KTH gameplay modes. - Many internal data structures changed to improve speed of the game. - Rebalanced weapon damage rates, there should not be any "tank" weapons anymore <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc9.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->. - Fixed crashes with tracer projectiles in team gameplay modes. - Fixed some friendly minotaur crashes in team gameplay modes. - Fixed invulnerability powerups will now appear in-game. - Fixed heretic actors dropping invisible items. - Fixed super shotgun so that it changes to another weapon when out of ammo. - Fixed bots choosing friendly minotaur as target in coop game. - Fixed experience was given for any destructible object that the player smashes. - Fixed setting of pitch angles for bots. - Fixed that under certain circumstances float bobbing items could be spawned inside of 3d floors. - Fixed armor pickups were gathered by player even if he had max armor value. - Fixed not all items were properly destroyed on team selection screen. [/color:oht3mjur] CHANGES: - Bots won't use alternate attacks if they don't have enough ammo for them. - Bots won't use repulsion alternate attacks when using melee weapons. - Made player get less experience on higher levels from killing both players and monsters. - Some more maps are compatible with domination gameplay mode. [color=#008040:oht3mjur]ADDITIONS: - Added Survival gameplay mode, it consists of players fighting against waves of monsters, each wave becomes more difficult as the game progresses, almost all maps can be used to play this game mode, be ready for some nice surprises! <!-- s:evil: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orcevil.gif" alt=":evil:" title="Evil or Very Mad" /><!-- s:evil: --> - Random powerup pickups. - Random weapon pickups. - Random fire weapon pickups. - Spectators and fliying spectators at the beginning of certain game modes. - Hero class now has more projectile weapons and is more balanced to be equally efficient as the original Hexen classes. [/color:oht3mjur][/size:oht3mjur] You can download this release here. We are releasing this so that you can help us test the new features and fixes, we are already working on a new map pack and some other nice surprises for a later patch. The editing package will be updated ASAP, adding support for the latest changes in the game. If you spot any bugs, please report them on the forums, so that they can be fixed in a later patch, thanks for your support and enjoy the release! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc6.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

And there's a contributed "Arena of Reckoning" by Dancso optimized for Survival game mode! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc6.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

:) \o/ Update yay So I rushed off to try it, I set map for arena of reckoning(:P) and 7 bots. I could have sworn i set gameplay to survival but it turned out to be a "kill the heresiarch" game (it might have been my mistake) Anyways, as I started playing, got the first frag and the right to be the heresiarch. It took the bots a while to kill me, when one of them did (it was a fighter) he was turning into it. BUT! Just as it finished transforming, the game crashed with a runtime error, i could not see any logfiles or anything unfortunately :( Also, the sound effect settings seem a bit steep... At half of the adjustable bar, it is barely even audible, but over the 3/4 of it it starts to take notably bigger steps in volume. So I gave it another try, this time I managed to set it to survival, no bots. I was progressing nicely, but when I killed a centaur (i think) with the mage's lightning weapon, the game crashed again. This time it actually printed some hopefully-useful-information which i screenshotted: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4236/bug1k.png">http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4236/bug1k.png</a><!-- m --> Make sure you get a master server for this sourceport(?) later :) EDIT: Also it seems that (at least on the arena of reckoning) the player is spoiled with discs of repulsion, also health potions, but mana seems to drain a bit too fast even if you had the maximum possible amount of it. If you could make some of these things only spawn later in the game (from a specified wave) it could enhance the gameplay EDIT2: Okay so i wanted to give the football gameplay mode a try, but after like a minute of gameplay (7 bots) and default settings, it crashed :( I got no error window this time.

You usually get logs in basepak/debug.txt file. For more information on getting right error message check <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.vavoom-engine.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1281">http://www.vavoom-engine.com/forums/vie ... f=1&t=1281</a><!-- m -->

Also it seems that (at least on the arena of reckoning) the player is spoiled with discs of repulsion, also health potions

Perhaps you're right about making more items appear on later levels, we'll consider scripting something like that. However, try playing from 15th or 20th wave, and you'll see that those health potions could be not enough <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc9.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

mana seems to drain a bit too fast even if you had the maximum possible amount of it

That's because you're on low level, try kill enemies fast to progress, when your character increases level of experience mana drain is much less. Also try not to use powerful weapons when you're on low level.

That's because you're on low level, try kill enemies fast to progress, when your character increases level of experience mana drain is much less.

Ehhheheheh. I would love to, BUT <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2553/bug2y.png">http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2553/bug2y.png</a><!-- m --> It won't let me. :'( This time i was just killing a golem and an ettin at the same time with the mage's 3rd weapon on the AOR (arena of reckoning) EDIT: I think I figured what's causing this one. I have adjusted the max corpse amount (as the maximalist I am, its not crysis after all.) EDIT2: Seems like I was right, I started a new game, corpse limit unadjusted, and got to level 7, no crashing. Though I'd like to make a few suggestions. Make the stronger weapons only available later in game. It's very misleading to new players (it kind of was, for me) they might get annoyed by the quick drain. Common sense tells them to use the most powerful weapon. About experience draining over time. I have two suggestions: 1. Make it unable to lose levels. You "worked hard" for it, a 2 minute toilet break might break your heart. Also make the drain stop during cooldown (at the end of each wave, when counting down to next wave) since there is nothing to kill, there should be no penalty. I had a little problem killing ghost monsters, bloodscourge can't hit them (only with radius damage) the other weapon i kept using was the red wand, as it is fast fire, ripping and it can hit ghosts, but it became a tedious task when trying to kill lots of ghostly centaurs at once. I have a question too. Does experience scale with the enemies' health? I noticed the health modifier on server settings, do healthier monsters give more like the modifier in kmod?

[quote="Dancso":2d5hhcis] EDIT: I think I figured what's causing this one. I have adjusted the max corpse amount (as the maximalist I am, its not crysis after all.) Hmm, that's interesting. What exactly value was it? Max?

Yes It's my maximalism in action: When I play a game, at first I go for absolute maximum graphics and limits, if it gets laggy I lower some of it. I made a second edit on my previous post btw (but it took me long to write and you already replied :P)

Alright, I've just reproduced same error, so now we know when exactly this happen. [quote="Dancso":2q7i1pzs]I'd like to make a few suggestions. Make the stronger weapons only available later in game. It's very misleading to new players (it kind of was, for me) they might get annoyed by the quick drain. Common sense tells them to use the most powerful weapon. Weapon/mana behavior is exactly similar throughout the KA. Also, there's a wiki documentation and the manual for the new players <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc9.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->. [quote="Dancso":2q7i1pzs]About experience draining over time. I have two suggestions: 1. Make it unable to lose levels. You "worked hard" for it, a 2 minute toilet break might break your heart. Umm... is pause not working ? [quote="Dancso":2q7i1pzs] Also make the drain stop during cooldown (at the end of each wave, when counting down to next wave) since there is nothing to kill, there should be no penalty. That's an interesting suggestion, we may think about this. [quote="Dancso":2q7i1pzs] I have a question too. Does experience scale with the enemies' health? I noticed the health modifier on server settings, do healthier monsters give more like the modifier in kmod? Yes, more health monster has, more experience you get from killing it. Know, though, that when your character reachs higher levels he gains less experience for each kill. On low levels, however, if you kill something really powerful, like Minotaur or Heresiarch, you may get several levels at once. Same counts for fragging opponents in other game modes.

If you have played KA since the first public betas in 2004, you might remember that initially you had to ding a few levels first before you could even pick up weapons beyond the first two or three. It didn't work well. The losing experience continually is by design and adds to the challenge (e.g. if you get killed by a much lower level player, you might lose so much experience that you lose several levels upon resurrecting). Granted it's maybe a bit upsetting while waiting around between spawning waves in this specific gameplay mode, but they work well in other modes. We might look into stopping the counter when there are no monsters in the arena. At any rate, a 2 minutes bathroom break means a guaranteed frag and thus death, experience and arsenal loss. <!-- s:P --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc4.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s:P -->

[quote="Crimson Wizard"][quote="Dancso"]About experience draining over time. I have two suggestions: 1. Make it unable to lose levels. You "worked hard" for it, a 2 minute toilet break might break your heart. Umm... is pause not working ? We're talking about a multiplayer game :P --- Well in competetive game modes i can understand losing levels so no player would get easily overpowered, but it makes sense to me for a survival game mode where the challenge grows with each wave.

[quote="Dancso":cj76qxv3][quote="Crimson Wizard":cj76qxv3][quote="Dancso":cj76qxv3]About experience draining over time. I have two suggestions: 1. Make it unable to lose levels. You "worked hard" for it, a 2 minute toilet break might break your heart. Umm... is pause not working ? We're talking about a multiplayer game <!-- s:P --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc4.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s:P --> How would you make a 2 minutes toilet break in multiplayer game without a pause?... honestly I can't even imagine doing this. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc2.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> BTW, host can pause anyway by pressing Pause key.

[quote="Crimson Wizard"]How would you make a 2 minutes toilet break in multiplayer game without a pause?... honestly I can't even imagine doing this. :)Its really simple. Lets say you are connected to your friend's server, you are playing survival. You quickly say "brb gotta drop a brown one" and rush off to the toilet, still connected to the game, but without pause, and your friend still roasting them monsters. ...Nevermind. :P [EDIT]: I keep getting these errors when posting: General Error SQL ERROR [ mysql4 ] MySQL server has gone away [2006] An SQL error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact the Board Administrator if this problem persists.

Cool! Can't wait to try survival mode =)

Regarding crash mentioned above, there seem to be a discrepancy between setting range and internal restriction made in one of the previous Vavoom versions, which we did not notice. I fixed that; for now simply do not make player & monster corpses amount larger than "middle" value.

cooooooool i'll try out in a minute.. if i'll see any bugs i'll post them!! thank you!!!!!!

I keep having a goofy issue where sometimes during a survival wave, a monster will spawn over top of me and prevent me from moving, killing me almost immediately.

[quote="Parias":3v9zy086]I keep having a goofy issue where sometimes during a survival wave, a monster will spawn over top of me and prevent me from moving, killing me almost immediately. A grave occasion indeed <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc2.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> try using disc of repulsion to push him away. Then, also, try to memorize spawn locations and keep certain distance from them. By the way, it is a problem of all maps which were not created specifically for SU, like DM maps, because on these monsters spawn on deathmatch spots instead of specifically predefined ones, which are harder to distinguish and remember.

Oh, and spectators are capable of picking up an enemy flag (among other things) in capture the flag. I was doing the chapel level and spectated before I started goofing around, and I ended up accidentally picked up the enemy flag. When I went to play, it still said "you have the enemy flag!". Not sure if this is really a bug or something, but it's just something that happened to me.

[quote="Parias":1m5v2nt8]Oh, and spectators are capable of picking up an enemy flag (among other things) in capture the flag. I was doing the chapel level and spectated before I started goofing around, and I ended up accidentally picked up the enemy flag. When I went to play, it still said "you have the enemy flag!".. Yeah, that's it <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc9.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> We have already fixed this btw, it will not happen in the final 1.1 (current is beta as you can see)

A suggestion(if not already possible): could it be possible for a person to choose how many monsters are on the field at once during a survival mode? I notice that there are usually 10 enemies out at once, but I wouldn't mind being able to make like 30 enemies come out at once during arena of reckoning. =] Also, I notice that this might cause enemies to spawn on top of one another, so I had a funny idea to be able to set a "toss" mode(if possible) that makes enemies that spawn go flying away from their spawn point like they were shot by a disc of repulsion. Not really probable, it's just something funny to picture in your head.

[quote="Parias":r1semp6w]A suggestion(if not already possible): could it be possible for a person to choose how many monsters are on the field at once during a survival mode? I notice that there are usually 10 enemies out at once, but I wouldn't mind being able to make like 30 enemies come out at once during arena of reckoning. =] There's currently an option which defines total number of monsters per wave (monster amount), but limit of monsters active at once is calculated using total number of spawn points and number of players in game. I am afraid that allowing users to uncrease this will raise chances for monster stucking issues somewhat. Anyway, we may try and see what happen. [quote="Parias":r1semp6w] Also, I notice that this might cause enemies to spawn on top of one another, so I had a funny idea to be able to set a "toss" mode(if possible) that makes enemies that spawn go flying away from their spawn point like they were shot by a disc of repulsion. Not really probable, it's just something funny to picture in your head. Difficult to say, maps have different geometry and that won't always look good. We may try to make them spawn not exactly on spot but on a random point in the certain range around spot, perhaps.

I guess another option would be to add more spawn points to Survival maps.

What about creating your own spawn points? After all, technically every player has their own server, thus more control should be possible...

[quote="Parias":hidab2c1]What about creating your own spawn points? After all, technically every player has their own server, thus more control should be possible... What do you mean by "creating your own spawn points"?

Well, perhaps a player could set his/her own spawn points by either going into like a "spectator" mode or a "editor mode". Sort of like doombuilder, but not nearly as customizable or complicated.

[quote="Parias":a3cgkvhc]Well, perhaps a player could set his/her own spawn points by either going into like a "spectator" mode or a "editor mode". Sort of like doombuilder, but not nearly as customizable or complicated. It is possible, but defeats the idea of map design, and also opens a wide door to cheating. BTW if you want you may simply edit existing maps in any real map editor and set as much spawn points as you like.

In my opinion, this works fine already, but maybe defining a special type of spawn points for monsters in Survival (even making it optional, for map authors) wouldn't hurt...

Maybe perhaps make red zones that define where a monster cannot spawn to prevent cheating. Also, this is only really important in survival(and maybe castle sweep) mode, so there's no real reason to risk cheaters in any other modes. As an added note: maybe spawn points could only be added or changed in offline games(only 1 player allowed in game).

[quote="Parias":2g6zs4h8]Maybe perhaps make red zones that define where a monster cannot spawn to prevent cheating. Also, this is only really important in survival(and maybe castle sweep) mode, so there's no real reason to risk cheaters in any other modes. As I said, this is absolutely excessive (and lots of work for dubious purpose), because today you may get a free map editor like Doom Builder, and hack the map as much as you like. By the way, you can make a Survival map with lots of spawning spots yourself (*hint* *hint*) <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc6.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D --> Firebrand's proposal about extra spots that can be toggled on and off make sense though. I was also thinking about making specialized spots for spawning flying creatures only - these may be placed at high places.

I don't see the point of allowing in-game spawn point settings at all, maps are in an open format so anybody can modify them (and if it's a useful modification, submit it for inclusion in the next KA release).