OA 0.8.7 todo, contrib, etc thread

[fromhell]

Ok, things I want to do :

animate Major
animate Beret (which also animates Tony)
animate Grism (which also animates Penguin)
animate Liz
Finish Neko once and for all and bring her skirt back

It turns out i'm the only one that can animate MD3s in Blender AFAIK so the fate of the project is ultimately up to me. Stiff animations already affect the 'competition' OA has as well so it's not just us that lack volunteers in that area!

Really it's hard to IK up segmented models - id had ik going in Quake2's meshes during production, and they just skimped out on motion capture for Q3.

[Neon_Knight]

Just a heads-up. I've finished my work on reptctf11 and oa_bases3plus3. Both of them have both TA and normal versions, and are in the SVNC thread.

oa_reptctf3 could also be considered finished... if it wasn't for the fact that it requires a new set of textures, since I'm in huge doubts with egyptsoc. -.- Removed from the SVNC thread until I can get some new textures.

As for am_thornish, I'll see what can I do this week about that map. There's not too much to do for it, as the main objective with that map is already achieved.

[Neon_Knight]

One of the problems of the current version is that some maps appear available for some gametypes in the menu, but if you try them, they do not work correcly. Others, instead, would work but do not appear associated to that gametype in the menu. Some others do not appear in the menu at all.

I think that we should carefully check arenas.txt for the next release.

IMHO, when we will be near to the official release (few weeks before), we should:
1) Be sure that the SVN has got all the latest versions of the maps
2) Create a forum thread with the list of all the maps included with the game (or maybe two lists, one for the "stock" maps and one for the "tribute map package")
3) Create one (or two) "test" packages to allow the testers to have all those latest versions of the maps.
4) Each tester should check some maps (for example, 5 maps * 6 testers = 30 maps checked) in all the gametypes, and then write a post on the thread, with the results of his tests in all the 13 gametypes (mapname - 0Y, 1Y, 2Y, 3Y, 4Y, 5N, 6N, 7N, 8Y, 9Y, 10Y, 11N, 12Y), optionally adding some notes under that line (like <<this map works in TDM mode, but it is very small and probably it would better to not make it appear for this gametype in the menu>>. Maybe one may add a second line, similar to the first (0Y, 1N, etc., maybe even 8D (D=don't know)): the first talks about being "technically" compatible with the gametype, and the second would be the personal opinion of the player, if he finds the characteristics of the map (like its size) adapt to that mode; other players may then say their own opinion.
Note: the tests should be "real" tests: do not simply launch the map and see if the flags are visible, but add some bots, take the flag and score a capture, before going to try the next gametype.
5) We should decide if some map, even if technically working, for their structure are not adapt to that gametype, and thus should be not shown available for that gametype in the menu.
6) Someone should update arenas.txt.

Note: Maybe the list of the maps, and the results of the tests, may be placed in a page on the wiki: in this page, everyone will be able to update them!

What do you think about it?
If we split the map list among more testers, the amount of work for each tester will be limited.

I'll take care of this. A lot of maps have support for other gamemodes aside of FFA, TDM, Tourney and CTF, yet this isn't mentioned everywhere else.

[Gig]

I'll take care of this. A lot of maps have support for other gamemodes aside of FFA, TDM, Tourney and CTF, yet this isn't mentioned everywhere else.

All alone? You're a great man! When you will have done this, you should get some cakes! 

[Neon_Knight]

I have an arenas.txt prepared, but I'll be waiting until fromhell decides that "OA will get a new version".

[Neon_Knight]

It would be nice to find and fix the reason why, when using many mods designed for Q3A, the main menu background (and sometimes also other menus background) appears as a "missing texture" (black, with grey/white borders), really not good at looking. Maybe the problem involves some shaders, too, because in some mods the main menu background is not shown even if it consists in a custom image and not the classic Q3A logo... I know that there are still many DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/List_of_missing_textures]missing textures and DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/List_of_missing_textures_and_shaders_of_Q3_and_TA_maps]shaders, but is it possible to give some higher priority to these?

This happens with a clean OA 0.8.5 installation?

[Gig]

It would be nice to find and fix the reason why, when using many mods designed for Q3A, the main menu background (and sometimes also other menus background) appears as a "missing texture" (black, with grey/white borders), really not good at looking. Maybe the problem involves some shaders, too, because in some mods the main menu background is not shown even if it consists in a custom image and not the classic Q3A logo... I know that there are still many DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/List_of_missing_textures]missing textures and DO NOT LINK[/b]) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/List_of_missing_textures_and_shaders_of_Q3_and_TA_maps]shaders, but is it possible to give some higher priority to these?

This happens with a clean OA 0.8.5 installation?

Just tested... used a copy of my openarena installation folder, where I deleted all additional stuff except the pak0-pak6 files in baseoa folder... and used the fs_homepath command line parameter to use a completely new homepath folder... tested with Akimbo mod v1.2... and the background is like a classic "missing texture"...

[Neon_Knight]

Any link?

[Gig]

Any link?

Link to what? Akimbo?
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/ModCompat/Akimbo
The same happens with BFG10K Arena (v 1.30, aka 2), too...
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/ModCompat/BFG10K_Arena

Rocket vs Rail 0.42, instead, is not affected.
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/ModCompat/Rocket_VS_Rail

[Neon_Knight]

I'll be checking those, thanks.

EDIT: I can confirm the issue, and seems to be related with the paths for the UI, since even the buttons doesn't display as well.

Could it be possible to report in the console which stuff is missing? Such as textures, models, etc.

[fromhell]

yes. type /shaderlist in the console and look for all the entries that have (DEFAULTED) after them. for models, type /modellist and check for anything with 0 bytes used. /condump it to a textfile so you get an instant todo list

[Neon_Knight]

Great.

It seems that the problem is that menuback and menubacknologo shaders are defaulted... I haven't saw if this is the case for the other mods as well.

[fromhell]

Oops did I actually get rid of those? Didn't mean to. Will fix.

[Gig]

Since we are talking of mods and menus... sometimes I've seen posts from old Q3 mod authors complaining about the fact that their customized-console-background does not work with OpenArena (that shows its own logo instead). Do you have some tips about that?

[fromhell]

because in OA, menuback/menubacknologo would be in oanew.shader (clean room ftw), instead of gfx.shader or whatever else Q3 had that starts before the letter o. Alphabetical ordering matters

[Neon_Knight]

I thought shaders didn't had that restriction...

[Cacatoes]

I may have already mentionned this, but I'd like to insist a bit: patches are a bit hard to apply by players.
There are still some people coming on 085 servers and say "hey, I can't change my weapon !", and some other people who tried to apply the patch but didn't succeed for a reason or another, I'm not even sure I have the mastery on how files are loaded by the engine myself.
That harms the game a bit, and I wish there would be a way to minimize the risks.
I regret it since patches seem to be the most proper way to update the game, but if in practice it's not the case because of some weird behaviours, then we may have to reconsider using them.
That could mean, patch could be available for those who want, but not the preferred solution.

I'd suggest some install instructions which would be:

- move the personnal OA data (~/.openarena & such) apart
- unzip openarena.zip
- period.
... - check it works that way (some way to identify the version servers are running would be nice, since it seems admins can't agree on which version to play, which makes me thing again about that Launcher concept)
- move back your personnal OA data.

At least, that would be the preferred way. And, yeah, I'd vote to publish some install instructions next to the download place.

[Neon_Knight]

Well, nowadays there are only three major problems with the ModCompat:
- Background not showing up properly in a lot of minor mods.
- Missing textures. (Due to the reuse of Quake III Arena's textures)
- Some mods are using the old 0.8.1 color scheme.

[sago007]

- Some mods are using the old 0.8.1 color scheme.

Is that a problem?

[Neon_Knight]

- Some mods are using the old 0.8.1 color scheme.

Is that a problem?

It might be tied to the whole "no-background" issue.

[RMF]

To be honest, every time I launch up 081 (not so often anymore these days though) I find the menu's so much clearer, less disturbed, and better looking. I know it won't be changed back and that is not what I want to start a discussion about, but maybe it's something to keep in mind if the menu were to be redesigned again. Though I might also be the only one preferring non-moving menu backgrounds...

@topicstart, and where did you say we could apply for maptester?

And, '087 todo'? 086 will be skipped then?

[Neon_Knight]

No, we're NOT going to steal Q3 visuals. Period.

[Peter Silie]

@topicstart, and where did you say we could apply for maptester?

You are already one of this guys

[RMF]

@Neon Knight, I know it won't be reverted, as I already said in my previous post. Just telling my opinion incase a new menu would be designed again. It doesn't have to be Q3-style, just not moving or less moving (imo).

@Peter, who says I want to, I was only asking how
Allright allright, i do want to...