Posted by: JDoran
« on: 07. August 2023, 23:05:50 »Figgis, that mini-mod SS2 Quick Start is great! It should be recommended as an option for anyone who plays through System Shock 2 more than a couple of times.
All these should work fine with at least SCP. I haven't tested the quick start with any other mods, but I'd imagine it'll only break if the intro mission is completely different.Figgis, I'm not interested in multiplayer personally, but I like the look of your menu mod to skip the assignment videos at the start of the game. Is this mod safe to use with other mods, or will it clash or break some of them, do you (or anyone else ) know?
If you mean the file ' dark_mp_patched_v1.zip', that is still available.RocketManDude, I wish I was alive when people used them. I'd love to lug around a pocket ISM Model Router with me everywhere.
What.This sounds extremely based.
After screwing around more with the respawning stuff, I made a small mod that adds alternate respawn logic:
- you can only respawn automatically if the QBRM is active on the map, while you're dead the game checks for that every second (adjustable);
- reconstructing costs 15 nanites (adjustable): if you don't have them, you can't respawn even when it's active;
- if another player frobs an already-activated QBRM, all dead players will respawn at it;
- if the map has no QBRM, you respawn as normal (can be turned off).
Upon moving into a different level all dead players still respawn as normal. Not sure yet if that's possible to override via script, nor if it's really needed.
There's also not really much you can do while being dead, unsurprisingly. Makes me wonder if some sort of spectator mode would be possible to implement.
I also don't know how to properly subtract nanites from the player that frobs the QBRM to revive everyone, so for now it's free.
I threw this together with the additional net avatars .dml and the Engineering cutscene skip from SS2 Cutscene Skipper into a more general "netgame improvements" mod, ss2_netfixes. It is now attached to the original post. It should hopefully be SCP-compatible.
I only tested it with 2 players and didn't test it with any other mods, but I reckon it won't work with any that require attaching additional scripts to the player object. The way it detects that the mission lacks a QBRM is also an untested hack (you just place an object named NetNoQBRM into the mission), since I couldn't figure if it's possible to iterate over all objects of an archetype, or even just check if one exists on the map.
allowing the psi guy to cast spells onto a fellow player
These are also very good ideas. I feel like it's probably doable with some gross script hacks, but I'm not sure of the details.Is there a way to disable the engine-level player respawning?
+ObjProp "The Player" "Scripts"
{
"Script 0" "NetPlayerRespawn"
"Script 1" "PlayerScript"
}
Feels like this is bound to break something.As discouraging as it is to be told that your work is pointless, it's 1000 times worse putting in (in some cases hundreds of hours of) effort only to have nobody care once you're done.
On a COMPLETELY unrelated note, I don't really think EE is going to take over and become the de-facto standard way to play the game like everyone here seems to think.
I actually agree with that, a polished up, fully overhauled 2 player MP would be an interesting way of playing SS2.
that is what I would focus on, if I were NDS (assuming they want to deliver fully enhanced MP experience, not just fix the technical issues).
I don't want to belabour the point but since you've given the same response a few times now (people are free to do what they want), I'll try a different approach.
People having free will has nothing to do with their inclination to exercise that free will. And that inclination is emotionally based. That's why robots and computers have no motivation. So there is a causal relationship between how a person feels and what choices they make.
Example: New guy makes a replacement wrench. Feedback from another user: "I think this wrench is uglier than the original and the UV mapping is done poorly. Based on this, you shouldn't bother spending any more time on it."
100% factually correct right? No problem... right? After all, the guy has FREE WILL. He is free to keep working on what he's interested in. In reality however, that post will very likely cause a number of emotional responses. It may make the person feel: anger, depression, hostility, self-doubt, resentment... you get the idea.
Now let's take a look at a different response: "Welcome to the forums! Good to see active modders after all these years. As for the wrench, I noticed something weird going on with the lighting. Have you checked your UV mapping? Also the texture is a bit incongruent with the original artistic design in my opinion. However I'm looking forward to see where your next attempt goes!"
just for the record, anyone is free to do whatever if they deem it fun, there doesn't really have to be a reason or a goal. but if it's something completely out of whack, someone is going to point it out - a good example would be that SS1 mod that was trying to change the original, unsynced audiolog text so there would be no masculine references to Shodan anywhere. which made absolutely no sense, and it ultimately went nowhere (but it forced me to actually do a proper version).
another example would be that guy who was basically redoing his own SHTUP from scratch a few thousands of years ago. I mean sure dude, but ZB kind of already got this, maybe you wanna try something else?
the intention here is not to discourage, but rather to make sure the state of resources at hand is understood properly, saving time, effort, and preventing frustration. remember that other guy who did his FM in olDark a few years ago just because he didn't bother to ask for the latest tools?
an useful MP related project would be to examine the ecologies and AIs, and create a dml mod that would adjust the difficulty accordingly in a smart way. as SS2EE will (most likely) accept dml mods, this would be something that would be useful in the future as well.
SS2:EE is probably going to completely overhaul the multiplayer code, so any attempts to fix it in Old/NewDark would just be wasted effort.
it's fairly safe to say SS2EE will be out later this year. so yeah, any attempts to improve the MP in Dark games is indeed a wasted effort,
we certainly don't want to discourage you from SS2 modding,
I don't personally consider it a waste of my time since I find stuff like this interesting to do. It's understandable that someone else would, though.it's fairly safe to say SS2EE will be out later this year. so yeah, any attempts to improve the MP in Dark games is indeed a wasted effort, especially if we are talking about band aids like hexediting and script-circumventing issues.
This is probably a valid point for a lot of people, however I don't think it would have to be that drastic, at least for me. I find it pretty fun even with default difficulty, not to mention there are at least a couple of mods out there that attempt to increase the difficulty of MP, so it could be possible to build on top of them.so to make 3+ player MP into something someone would actually want to play and enjoy, you would also have to pretty much overhaul the entire game as well.
I would certainly hope so, but I assume its release is still quite a ways off.SS2:EE is probably going to completely overhaul the multiplayer code, so any attempts to fix it in Old/NewDark would just be wasted effort.