Trouble in Terrorist Town - a GMod gamemode

[worbat]

I thought the problem was about CS:S maps is that there are no weapon spawns.

[JossiRossi]

BKU addressed that, weapons are now spawned in randomly based on player count.

[Ajunk]

I really really like this update. I always thought the post-round deathmatching took away from the game, and the radar thing is nice too.

I must say, I am kind of intrigued of what it would take to get any old CSS map and give it TTT weapon placements with minimal work. Here's a few ideas.

[li]How hard would it be to have actual random weapon spawning? That is to say, writing code which flies around the map at the start of each round and spawns weapons in places it checks as valid? Not unlike how Left 4 Dead places random stragglers. [/li]
[li]In gmod, can you access the pathing the bots use in CSS. I know whatever method it uses places a whole bunch of nodes and different types. If it were possible to access this, you could easily place weapons in reachable places.[/li]
[li]I think it would be really interesting if you could write some sort of gmod tool which allows you to "place" TTT weapons in CSS maps. Essentially, select the weapon to place and shoot somewhere. The co-ordinates and weapon type are stored in a .txt file which actual TTT then accesses to place weapons. To make weapon placement user-friendly, placed weapons could appear as immovable ghost props which could also be removed using the same tool (thus removing the item from the .txt file). Servers could then host this .txt and use it for this. The best part about this idea is that, while requiring some work on each map, it works on any map in source (not just CSS).[/li]

Anyways, you don't have to tell me twice that all of these ideas are crazy and a lot of work and totally not worth your time, but perhaps consider it.


On a completely unrelated note, you know how the disguiser has a disguise tab? Why not include a drop-down menu where you can select your apparent health? It could help it be more useful, as right now not a lot of people seem to be buying it.

[JossiRossi]

I think the disguiser being under utilized because people don't know how to use it, once it's better understood I think people will use it more often. The thing I like best about it is that when you look at a disguised person it simply shows nothing. As a result you can hide in the shadows and not get spotted instantly because info pops up on you.

[Bad King Urgrain]

How hard would it be to have actual random weapon spawning? That is to say, writing code which flies around the map at the start of each round and spawns weapons in places it checks as valid? Not unlike how Left 4 Dead places random stragglers.

Just to clarify, L4D does not place things by randomly flying around the map. L4D (or Hammer) generates a nav mesh for NPCs to use, which is like the node graph for the Ep1 engine (which you mention in the next bullet point) except significantly better. A nice side effect of the nav mesh is that L4D can spawn a zombie anywhere on the nav mesh and be guaranteed that it can fit there and get to the survivors (because if not, that location would not be on the nav mesh). I believe that as the players move near a given section of the nav mesh (ie. one polygon like these) stragglers are spawned in there, depending on a few variables.

Anyway, given the presence of a nav mesh and a way in which I could access it, I could perhaps use it to spawn guns. CS:S turns out to use a nav mesh for bot navigation (which I did not know), so there might be possibilities there. I'll investigate those.

However, I am not entirely convinced that looking for guns is an integral part of TTT. You could say that spawning weapons at the player spawns just fast-forwards the first minutes of gameplay after which everyone just has a gun.

Perhaps more interesting is the option of spawning players around the map instead of at the CS:S spawns. Another thing I'll be looking at.

I think it would be really interesting if you could write some sort of gmod tool which allows you to "place" TTT weapons in CSS maps.

Ehhh. It has possibilities, but building the placement tool would be a pain. Perhaps an approach where the player spawns the weapons in sandbox mode and places them using the physgun, then runs a Lua thing to grab the location and orientation of the guns. Might sound harder but is probably easier to actually do because I wouldn't have to bother with the placement stuff.

I doubt people would use this though, especially if there's a way to spawn weapons randomly in sensible locations. If that turns out to be impossible, then it's something to consider.

edit:
As far as I've been able to tell, gmod does not offer a way of accessing the nav mesh. So spawn approaches using it seem out of the question at this time.

[JossiRossi]

Placing weapons and ammo can be a real pain in hammer, given the chance to manually place them in gmod I would absolutely use it.

[Wat?]

Would not be that hard to make a lua spawner that spawns the items/spawnpoints on worldpostition.

Maybe add  ingame menu for admins to spawn physgunable spawnpoints that would look like the gun they are going to spawn.
This way they could be carefully placed jsut the way they are wanted, and once you are done you just press a button and it saves the placement and angle of every spawn, and uses it every time the map is played.

Also maybe have random_gun and random_ammo spawns along the specifc spawns. And option to randomly use only some of the set spawns, so that the gun locations get a bit veriation every round.

[FF|NedStar]

Suggestion:

Make disarming a c4 impossible if someone else is already disarming it. Preferably make this shown like "NedStar is already disarming the bomb"
Its a bit annoying when your disarming the bomb, have the code, insert it and some other guy walks by and takes away your last few seconds causing everyone to get blown up.

[worbat]

BKU addressed that, weapons are now spawned in randomly based on player count.

I see that now :P

As for the bomb thing.

Something more comical like, "You attempt to disarm the bomb but, 'Jossi Rossis fingers got in the way.'

[Soduka]

"ERROR: GAMEMODE:'HUDPaint' Failed: terrortown\gamemode\cl_hud.lua:216: attempt to call global 'DisguisePaint' (a nil value)"

?

[Gamerofthegame]

Two Traitor item suggestion, simple enough;

Flashbang - Yes, a flashbang. Oh god. It does what a flashbang does, simple enough. Takes a nade slot. Useful in various situations... Or just to cause sheer paranoia in large crowds. (Secretly drop a flash in a large group and then pop someone in the head quickly and then run around like a headless chicken like everyone else. Paranoia ensues)

And also, the one I like moar, the bloody hatchet. Melee weapon - Would need a model of some sort (Hatchet or otherwise) - that kills in one hit with a decent range, however it's very iconic AND when it hits someone it makes a very... Ah... Messy sound, which is audible. Person gets a speed boost with it, to further boost it against ranged weapons. I was also toying with the idea of it letting you eat corpses with right click for health (But it being noisy and something you can't just stop) but maybe that should be a different traitor 'tool', too.

[Blitzy!]

Another idea: What about a teleport?

Basically, you use the teleport item at whatever spot you would like the teleporter to "remember". (So you can't just teleport outside to the skybox or whatever, it'd have to be in the map somewhere.) Whenever the item is used again, it will teleport the traitor to whatever spot they remembered. A handy way of getting out of those super sticky situations.

Downsides? Teleportation sounds. You'd hear the sound both at the site of teleportation, and the destination when the traitor arrives.

[Bad King Urgrain]

Flashbang would be a guaranteed kill on everyone affected by it. Seems hard to balance.

"ERROR: GAMEMODE:'HUDPaint' Failed: terrortown\gamemode\cl_hud.lua:216: attempt to call global 'DisguisePaint' (a nil value)"

?

Has to be something with outdated files, because it definitely doesn't happen in the current version. It's not an error that would only occur if you do a specific thing in the game or anything.

[JossiRossi]

terrortown\gamemode\cl_scoring.lua:323: attempt to index local 'title' (a nil value)

Just got this error on Alters' server and it basically glitches the whole end of round score board, none of it works.

I'm not sure if it is coincidence but it happened first when the round timed out, then every round after.

[Darkest_97]

The innocent/traitor chat seems to be having more problems. Traitors will be talking to everyone but it shows up red a lot.

And has an AFK system ever been considered?
Because i think theres nothing more frustrating than coming back 30 seconds into the round and your dead, and maybe you were even a traitor. It sucks. I guarantee this has happened to the majority of you because you went to do something after you died waiting for the next round, and some ass kills you.

So i was thinking something like this:
If a player doesnt move the entire preparing round, then they get god mode for say, the next 1-2 minuets. This will give them at least some time to get back. If somehow all of the traitors die in like 2 seconds of the round starting, except for the god mode afk one, or all the innocents are killed except for the god mode afk one, then the longest players will have to wait is 1-2 minuets. And you could only get god mode in preparing so it couldnt be taken advantage of in say, the middle of the round.
I dont see any way this could be bad, and if it could work i think everyone would be grateful.
Iv'e been killed as an afk less than 1 min into the round countless times because i showed up a few seconds to late.

[ball2hi]

The innocent/traitor chat seems to be having more problems. Traitors will be talking to everyone but it shows up red a lot.

And has an AFK system ever been considered?
Because i think theres nothing more frustrating than coming back 30 seconds into the round and your dead, and maybe you were even a traitor. It sucks. I guarantee this has happened to the majority of you because you went to do something after you died waiting for the next round, and some ass kills you.

So i was thinking something like this:
If a player doesnt move the entire preparing round, then they get god mode for say, the next 1-2 minuets. This will give them at least some time to get back. If somehow all of the traitors die in like 2 seconds of the round starting, except for the god mode afk one, or all the innocents are killed except for the god mode afk one, then the longest players will have to wait is 1-2 minuets. And you could only get god mode in preparing so it couldnt be taken advantage of in say, the middle of the round.
I dont see any way this could be bad, and if it could work i think everyone would be grateful.
Iv'e been killed as an afk less than 1 min into the round countless times because i showed up a few seconds to late.

No just no.
A good way to handle this is just to set up on the servers by admins enforcing "AFK's cant be killed until X:XX. Traitors can go around this rule.". I know on Soduka's server, the admins enforce the rule of 13:30 is when AFK's can be killed.

[Blitzy!]

Careful about using TF2 maps for TTT. Not only can you walk or get inside many of the map props, but for maps like control point maps, you may spawn in a different section (Stage 1 <> Stage 2) of the map to everyone else and not be able to get to them.

[ball2hi]

Careful about using TF2 maps for TTT. Not only can you walk or get inside many of the map props, but for maps like control point maps, you may spawn in a different section (Stage 1 <> Stage 2) of the map to everyone else and not be able to get to them.

I lol'd at the thought of players spawning in different parts of the maps.

[Ajunk]

However, I am not entirely convinced that looking for guns is an integral part of TTT. You could say that spawning weapons at the player spawns just fast-forwards the first minutes of gameplay after which everyone just has a gun.

Looking for a gun is a fundamental part of every round start. You see, in my opinion, TTT is played best when players are constantly moving around with some sort of goal. Finding a weapon is the first goal, which usually takes a while and much longer when the weapon you were going for is gone. Then, with players spread out as thin as possible and traitors decided, you have the goal of either finding people, finding a nice, unoccupied place to make camp (while an unsavory tactic, still one new players lean on), doing the objectives, or following leads on suspicious activity. Large groups and campers are usually the bane of traitors, so it's good that people don't start in a group not having to look for anything.

Another side effect of weapon searching is introduction of new players. It forces players to explore the map so they'll have a better chance to get a gun, but they'll still be able to lean on few spots they know.

Anyways, it looks like the manual weapon placement seems to be the way to go. While a pain in the ass, I'm sure it'll be worth it. The best part is that both mappers and server owners can painlessly update their maps with new content and not have to release another version. Plus, you could put new weapons and/or balance the existing weapons of author-less maps like dm_island or zm_countrytrain.

[worbat]

A small presumption.

Was the auto weapons in the CS:S maps for fretta friendlieness?