Warzone 2100 wish list - all can contribute_part 2

[Buginator]

Some time ago I said about this but here is again. I advice to make a accout system to lobby.wz2100.net for Internet playing games. & to move " ..\Warzone2100_2.1\config\multiplay\players\Player.sta " files to MasterServer to keep records in there(for security only). The goal is to make MP game more reasonable. I'm basing on my expirience, I play Counter-strike source on one server & I play just for scores which gives for each killing =) , howerever that score system gliches but I still plays no matter what. I'm trying to tell you that "playing for fun" becoming not enough in present days. Implamenting thing like this has many advantages & I'm 100% sure that this will help in future

I'm not making you to do a window authorization like on screenshot, may be just two lines(acc.\pass) in config file will be enough. So I couldto classified this thing to 2.1 roadmap as a Multiplayer feature.

A nice idea, but we would have way too many cheaters, so it would be worthless.  There isn't any way we can guarantee the results are accurate, unless we have a server that keeps track of everything (as in it would be the host).  If we go that route, the netcode has to be rewritten, and lots of the game code as well.

Encryption will not help in a open source project either... so we need a different network model.

[qwerty800]

Also, a good way to prevent online cheating on the lobby would be to forbid the connection if the --cheat mode is activated

Error 54:
Looks like the debug mode is activated. Please restart the game and remove --cheat from your shortcut path or execute it with --no-cheats

[EvilGuru]

Also, a good way to prevent online cheating on the lobby would be to forbid the connection if the --cheat mode is activated

How would you know if it is activated?

Anyone could download the source, remove the line which checks if cheat mode is enabled so that false is always sent.

Or, put a different way: who says you can trust what the client tells you?

Regards, Freddie.

[Terminator]

I think ..let PLayers "handle" with cheaters in game, I said about security as for Scores & Rank icon only. & I think warzone is not that game where cheaters is a every second player.

[Rider]

doing the right click on an enemy unit will show a ROUGH estimate of that unit's current HP?

I think this is a pretty good idea! Except I'd also like to see the bar being less then full on anything but full health (maybe update at 25% intervals or something). This method would incidentally also fix the issues that EvilGuru mentioned.

And ofcourse, I'd like you to be able to select enemy units to see their health as well... because of reasons previously mentioned already

[doom3r]

I think the best rough damage estimate should show if unit is:
undamaged (0%)
medium damage (25%)
heavy damage (50%)
If I am correct ( i dont remember if critic comes at 75% damage or 50%) these percentages are used for the auto-retreat order (do or die/retreat at medium damage/retreat at heavy damage). It's helpful if you know what of these orders the enemy chose, and to know that too (if an enemy retreats when he gets to 25% damage, usually all other units of the group have this order too. This makes a great advantage, for example you could try to force a retreat on the other units by attacking them one by one until they reach enough damage to retreat).

[elio]

i hope it's not already posted

would'nt it be nice if you can see a bluish semi-transparent version of a just ordered structure?
so it would be much easier to arrange and observe the build process

even more: you can just click on a truck and then on such a bluish semi-transparent structure and it begins to build.

[R3dP!pe]

Hi, 

I came to warzone 2100 because I'm using Linux and it's the only enjoyable RTS you can get for it. I completely missed WZ when it was commercial, and now it's my favorite RTS (together with total annihilation). It's great that you ported it to Linux. I think this is indeed a resurrection.

At the first try I found it confusing. So much technology to research, some tough missions, but now I have played cam1 for the 3rd time, and I understand how to use the different turrets efficiently. It's fun to try out different startegies for the missions.

Here are my suggestions:

1) To help beginners getting along with the huge tech tree there should be a possibility to look at the already researched stuff. In the intelligence menu you can read about the latest techs, but after a while the info is gone. It would be great to have this info permanently during the whole campaign.

2) I find the black screen in the mission briefings annoying. I understand the original movies are not open source, so this is missing. But why not simply put the complete briefing text in the intelligence menu?

3) In the later missions with lots of units and buildings I'm down to 1fps when I enable the shadows. Were the shadows in the original code, or were they added in the GPL version? I really like them, but on my machine (notebook celeron 1200MHz, intel graphics card) they are just too slow. Is there a way to make this code less CPU consuming?

4) The oil derricks make so much noise it's a pain... Could you reduce the volume of their sound?

[Verminus]

Hi, 

I came to warzone 2100 because I'm using Linux and it's the only enjoyable RTS you can get for it. I completely missed WZ when it was commercial, and now it's my favorite RTS (together with total annihilation). It's great that you ported it to Linux. I think this is indeed a resurrection.

At the first try I found it confusing. So much technology to research, some tough missions, but now I have played cam1 for the 3rd time, and I understand how to use the different turrets efficiently. It's fun to try out different startegies for the missions.

Here are my suggestions:

1) To help beginners getting along with the huge tech tree there should be a possibility to look at the already researched stuff. In the intelligence menu you can read about the latest techs, but after a while the info is gone. It would be great to have this info permanently during the whole campaign.

I agree this would be a good thing to have, or even an interactive tech tree in game

2) I find the black screen in the mission briefings annoying. I understand the original movies are not open source, so this is missing. But why not simply put the complete briefing text in the intelligence menu?

While this would be nice, apparently no-one has actually transcribed the briefings fully/properly, and a lot of what is said isn't very helpful without the accompanying videos/graphics. For now I'd just be happy if the "Incoming Transmissions" from the new padigram actually let you skip them rather than force you to sit through an eternity of black screens and slow text.

3) In the later missions with lots of units and buildings I'm down to 1fps when I enable the shadows. Were the shadows in the original code, or were they added in the GPL version? I really like them, but on my machine (notebook celeron 1200MHz, intel graphics card) they are just too slow. Is there a way to make this code less CPU consuming?

Intel graphics are notoriously problematic, especially in the drivers department, you may want to make sure that OpenGL is being full/properly supported, (and/or get an old nvidia card on the cheep, even a something like a geforce 3/4/FX should be enough for warzone, and has pretty decent OpenGL/drvier linux support from nvidia.

4) The oil derricks make so much noise it's a pain... Could you reduce the volume of their sound?

This, I believe has already been done, and will feature in the next release. (if you cant wait, try compiling from svn/trunk, there have been quite a few changes since 2.1beta2

My comments were in RED

[R3dP!pe]

Hi, thanks for the answer. I'm currently downloading beta 2.1 for the silent oil derricks. Just hope the 2.0.10 save games will work with it.

I've seen the shadow problem is mentioned in the wiki. So I'm not the only one with slow shadows. I've bought he cheapest note book I could get, thought there are no performance eaters for Linux. My next notebook will have a real graphics card.

I've also read the discussions about hires textures. My feeling is they won't look too good with the current renderer. The single texels have sharp edges ingame, the renderer does not blur them like in other games. I think sharper textures will look artificial.

Why not allow repair turrets on VTOLs?

To keep the research messages in the intelligence menu, simply comment out the following lines in /src/intelmap.c
//remove any research messages that have been read
for (psMessage = apsMessages[selectedPlayer]; psMessage != NULL; psMessage =
psNext)
{
psNext = psMessage->psNext;
if (psMessage->type == MSG_RESEARCH && psMessage->read)
{
removeMessage(psMessage, selectedPlayer);
}
}
But of course that's not the perfect solution since there will be LOTS of resarch messages at the end of the campaign. Maybe allow the player to manally remove them, e.g. by closing the message window. Doesn't look too complicated to implement, I will have a look.

[qwerty800]

would adding system/turret kill and movement kill to gameplay be interesting/popular?

say you hit a tank with a few bombs or arty rounds, this would kill the turret but not kill the tank, so it would then have to go get fixed to fire again.
or you shoot the side of it with a heavy weapon, it would kill the propulsion but leave it still able to fire.

like what happens to real tanks.

I rlly like this idea but...

We need to change it a bit:

Instead of directly affect the performances of the tank, the projectiles should damage the hull before to destroy the core system

Also, we need a screen to report the unit state:

Sensors: Ok (100%)
Cameras: Badly Damaged (42%)
Turret: Ok (93%)
Targeting Computer: Critical (20%)
Engine: Damaged (73%)
Signal quality: Excellent
Hull: Failed to respond (0%)

Sensors: Allow you to know the state of your systems. When damaged, your damage reports lose accuracy (they would be rounded at 5%, 10%, 20% etc...).
Cameras: Allow you to see. When destroyed, the unit is blind. It can communicate with other units to get a visual support
Turret: Allow you to shoot. Wen damaged, it take longer to reload and lose rate of fire.
Targeting computer: Allow you to aim. When damaged, the unit lose accuracy.
Engine: Allow you to move. When damaged, your tank move slower, can't climb hills anymore.
Signal quality: Allow the unit to recieive orders and to communicate with other units.
Hull: A global protection for everything. If destroyed, the core systems are vunerables. But the core system won't suffer in other case.

Note: If a unit is blind and can't commuticate with others, it won't move when another unit bump on it

To get a balenced game, we should convert the current unit life in hull instead of completly change it.
Also, the retreat options should be changed in "Retrait when med hull" and "Retreat when low hull"

It would be a great step forward for WZ2100.

[Per]

Hi, thanks for the answer. I'm currently downloading beta 2.1 for the silent oil derricks. Just hope the 2.0.10 save games will work with it.

They will not.

[R3dP!pe]

They will not.

A pity  :'(. Then I will have to finish the single player with 2.0.10. No problem.

OK, I've changed intelmap.c so that the research messages behave the way I like them to.

First of all, comment out the part in intCleanUpIntelMap that automatically deletes read research messages when the intelmap is closed:
static void intCleanUpIntelMap(void)
{
/*MESSAGE *psMessage, *psNext;

//remove any research messages that have been read
for (psMessage = apsMessages[selectedPlayer]; psMessage != NULL; psMessage =
psNext)
{
psNext = psMessage->psNext;
if (psMessage->type == MSG_RESEARCH && psMessage->read)
{
removeMessage(psMessage, selectedPlayer);
}
}*/

Then make the user able to delete the research messages manually by clicking the cross at the upper right corner of the message:
void intProcessIntelMap(UDWORD id)
{

if (id >= IDINTMAP_MSGSTART && id type == MSG_RESEARCH) //close button pressed, delete message
{
removeMessage(psCurrentMsg, selectedPlayer);
}[/color]
psCurrentMsg = NULL;
intRemoveMessageView(true);
}
}

Independently of the above, there is another thing I don't like. In beta 2.1 there are extra audio messages for the research messages:
audio_PlayStream("sequenceaudio/res_weapons.ogg", maxVolume, NULL, NULL);
and so on. I think this should only be played when opening unread messages. Here is the solution:

//deal with the message if one
if (psMessage)
{
//set the current message
psCurrentMsg = psMessage;

//set the read flag
///psCurrentMsg->read = true; pViewData)->type == VIEW_RES)
{
psResearch = getResearchForMsg((VIEWDATA *)psMessage->pViewData);
if (psResearch != NULL && !psMessage->read)
{
static const float maxVolume = 1.f;

switch(psResearch->iconID)
{
case IMAGE_RES_DROIDTECH:
audio_PlayStream("sequenceaudio/res_droid.ogg", maxVolume, NULL, NULL);
break;
..........and so on..........
}
}

//and finally for the dumb?
if (psMessage->pViewData)
{
intAddMessageView(psMessage);
}
}
//set the read flag
psCurrentMsg->read = true;
}
}


OK these are only details but I think it will make it easier for beginners. What do you think about the changes?

[the_bob]

Some way of seeing what units(pilots? crews?) have been recycled would be nice. Being able to assign them in particular order to build ques/factories would be even nicer.

The second part can wait, but even simple text/console based list of epirienced units in stock would help. Something like

Code: Select all

Units in reserve:
[rank] - [number of units with rank]: {[kills of unit 1] [kills of unit 2]...[kills of unit n]}
[higher rank] - ...

would be ok in the console.

IIRC the units in reserve aren't properly preserved when going to next mission or loading a save after closing the game. I recall losing a couple of veterans that way - they were about to be built at the time of the save, when I reloaded there were unexpirienced units coming out of the factory.

Another thing I think would be cool are automatically designed units - with the current UI it would probably be too much hassle, but in the future, how about a dialog box upon compleated research, or maybe some kind of notification icon, leading to a list of possible combinations with the researched part.

A list of checkboxes, prefferably of compotents that can be attached to it(eg. researching cobra body would allow you to select wheels, half-tracks, tracked propulsion and the availiable weapons). This should quickly porduce the desired combinations. Multi turret combinations might involve two weapon columns (primary/secondary)

The straightforward way is simply listing all possible combinations with the part you just researched - the list might get a bit long by the time the dragon body gets researched, but it would still be easier to scroll all the way down and just check all the heavy weapon and propulsion variants.

Sure, designing units is a part of the fun-factor, but after many skirmish battles it becomes tedious, having to design units over and over again, everytime you research a new technology.

Oh, and how about giving units a reverse gear ? Or reducing the units' turning angles, until pathfinding and group moving is fixed. There's no fun in a pseudo-realistic drive model if the units dont know how to drift

[R3dP!pe]

I forgot one thing in my change of the intelmap. If you delete a message, the widgets are not updated automatically, so you have to add the follwoing code:

/* Process return codes from the Intelligence Map */
void intProcessIntelMap(UDWORD id)
{

if (id >= IDINTMAP_MSGSTART && id type == MSG_RESEARCH) //close button pressed, delete message
{
widgDelete(psWScreen, IDINTMAP_MSGFORM);
removeMessage(psCurrentMsg, selectedPlayer);
intAddMessageForm(false);
}[/color]
psCurrentMsg = NULL;
intRemoveMessageView(true);
}
}

When you click on an objective message, thee is a short black screen because of the missing videos. Can be fixed here:
// If its a video sequence then play it anyway
if (((VIEWDATA *)psMessage->pViewData)->type == VIEW_RPL)
{

if (psMessage->pViewData)
{
intAddMessageView(psMessage);
}
//here the NO_VIDEO ifdef should be used:
StartMessageSequences(psMessage,true);

}

In beta 2.1 if you switch between intelmap and design, there is a flickering. For a fraction of a second the 3D world is displayed, but both views use a backdrop.

The next menu that does not behave as I expect is research:
1) When a new research is available and you click on the research reticule, it would be nice if an idle lab is preselected, not the last selected lab.
2) When the research menu is open and you select several labs by clicking on the buildings in the 3D world, the highlight is not removed from the previous selected lab. By this you can highlight all lab buttons, but of course only one is indeed selected.

But this is done in the 7000(!!) lines file hci.c. Not easy to figure out how it works.