vanilla vs mods
project_demon
Join Date: 2003-07-12 Member: 18103Members
Join Date: 2003-07-12 Member: 18103Members
<div class="IPBDescription">how will mods be handled?</div>Seeing as some servers are already implementiing changes of their own i was wondering how this will be handled by UWE. How will you make sure that players are aware of being in a moded server? Also is it wise to allow such ease in modability? Won't this split the community?
I fear that new players will be confused if they were to join a moded server for their first NS game. And who knows how that can turn out...
The bottom line is, how do you make sure that the player is playing the game that you have put a lot of hard work and time in and not some modded stuff that might or might not be good?
I fear that new players will be confused if they were to join a moded server for their first NS game. And who knows how that can turn out...
The bottom line is, how do you make sure that the player is playing the game that you have put a lot of hard work and time in and not some modded stuff that might or might not be good?
Comments
for new players i think a messagebox would be helpful:
"This is a modded Server. Experience can be changed from a non moded server"
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But for that to happen we need to wait, there are more important things to be done before they get into that.
This was already said before.
There will be so much false feedback from it as a result and would only confuse matters.
Please refraim for a short while longer from hosting modified servers. Thanks.
I think mods should be displayed to the user as tooltips, via chat text, in the server browser.
It's a bit of a thorny problem, since servers can change files in the lua directory without actually running a 'mod'. This suggests that the exe will need a hash of the original lua files so it can figure out if the server is vanilla or not, or simply require that servers not run modded code in the lua directory, and only in separate "-game x" folders. With so many other things to work on, I don't know how soon something like that will be implemented.
In the meantime, I'll keep from posting mods publicly or hosting it on a public server until there's a solution.
I think this
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Please refraim for a short while longer from hosting modified servers. Thanks.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
is a clear message. Eventually there will be support for custom servers in the server browser so we'll just have to wait.
This way, people cant really miss if a server is modded, and later on when search filters go live, you can choose to filter modded servers.
You know nothing about programming, right?
I don't see the need for it right now. What servers must have is start the name with MOD if it's running a mod. More simple than that impossible.
Why the Devs will start doing this right now when there are a lot more important things to be added/fixed???
So your modified server is staying up? Rad, what's the servername.
<b>EDIT:</b>is it 12p aust RADA SUCKS?
AFAIK all servers are crashing ... eventually. Most servers OPS i've spoken two have configured their servers (just as I have) to automatically restart when they crash etc.
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We are rolling back to vanilla, the boys don't want UWE to freak out and pull the plug on mods. They seam to think if we continue UWE will patch in a lock to disable mods until they are happy to have them running. We rather have our server able to be modded for LANs etc and not run a modded server on the net then lose the ability all together.
Good to hear you're doing the right thing, that's one less modified server on the list.
It could be helpful to find problems on that end but make sure that players on your server know where to inform of problems found on your modded server and then you can look at it and see if it's your mod or a game problem.
towards the end of public server NS popularity it was the braindead siege maps that attracted many people, and the WORST kind. one could say they actually kept players who would've otherwise left, but there were always classic mode servers around and they often competed for the same players, most of whom went to siege/easy-mode/retard mods as a secondary choice of least resistance.
the UWE team's response to this teachable lesson is to flaunt a more easily editable game with the LUA and a wysiwig mapping system to ensure massive amounts of retardo mods are produced in tandem with the game's release. so if the game even gets off the ground in the first place, it's going to have to compete in the fractured world of endless permutations of custom games which, though sometimes fun, by rule alter, simplify, or negate the rules of the classic game. NS1's public lifecycle demonstrated the way custom games fracture players into sects and players who prefer one mode exclusively. imagine if NS1 was as heavily modded -- vugroo's aside -- in the beginning of its life. it's reasonable to doubt that it would've attracted a dedicated enough playerbase in the first place to support the fracturing of that base that the custom minigames incurred.
I think what modders should keep in mind that every mod "fractures" the community into "like" and "dislike". Therefore (talking about post-release) if you are going to write a mod please consider this. Think about questions like "Is there a similar mod?", "Couldn't my idea just be integrated into another mod?", "Counldn't my mod be integrated into vanilla NS2?. If there are too many gamplay chaning mods out there it will only hurt the community.
Of course there will be mods out there and this is surely a good thing but especially leagues and ladders will have to agree on which mods to use so that the competetive community isn't split up between the respective rulesets.
PS: Play vanilla in the first place, as long as it is not broken ;)