So, as many of you know, I recently started running my own server not too long ago. Things have been going great, I've got a small crew of regulars who share in welcoming all that venture in and it's a blast. So, here's the first thing that's come up and left me stumped, and might also be of interest to the developers:
The other night, 2 or 3 of us humans were in with about 3 bots. The specifics for the launch of this particular game were the following:
set m2010 "set g_gametype 0 ; set g_Instantgib 0 ; set g_vampire 0 ; set g_vampire_max_health 500 ; set g_catchup 6 ; set fraglimit 35 ; set timelimit 10 ; set bot_minplayers 0 ; wait 3 ; kick allbots ; wait 3 ; map oa_pvomit ; addbot sergei 1 red 150 Ziggy ; addbot grism 2 blue 200 Sheletor ; addbot tony 3 red 200 Professor ; set nextmap vstr m2020"
While we were fraggin', I noticed what at first I thought was a new human in the game, the way I usually do - because my eyes caught something different as the scoreboard flashed by one time. I cease fraggin' briefly and hit <TAB> to get the new visitor's nick' and toss them the obligatory "Hi!/Welcome!" greeting. I chuckle briefly as I see that instead of being yet another Unnamed Player, this one has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING listed under their name. Nice trick, I think to myself, as something in the back of my head tells me that such a thing probably shouldn't be possible. Then I notice the visitor is also playing with a handicap - a REALLY LOW handicap: 0. Wow. I usually handicap myself at 75 when I play on my server, to make up for the advantage of being about 3 feet away from it, as well as for the challenge and practice it affords me. But, 0? 0? LOL! I die A LOT handicapped at 75, and scoring a frag takes a bit of work, too! Then I'm thinking, damn, what's his "max health"? Zero? ROFL, that don't make sense! I decide I gotta try a 0 handicap myself - and lo and behold I quickly discover/realize that I CAN'T set a 0 handicap, not via the menu, nor the console. DOH! This guy's good, I'm starting to think, LOL, hope he's not some butthead of a hacker, I don't really mind if he's friendly....
So, I attempt communication with the visitor a little more. Yeah, he's a quiet one. Silent. Usually that's just someone that doesn't speak English, from what I've learned, so I throw out all the common language greetings I know, to no avail. The guy's not anything stellar as far as his performance goes - he had managed a mere 2 frags. This is when it got really entertaining - a fellow MeTaLNET regular and myself both noticed the guy was invisible at one point and commented on it. Then I realize, I've never scored the invisibiiity on oa_pvomit and I've been through there pretty thoroughly. I start watching closer and closer, to find that this guy is essentially PERMANENTLY INVISIBLE! I'm still thinking, wow, this guy really does have some hackchops, and I'd love to hear how he pulls all this off, how he figured it out, etc. I mean, we've got a dude - an entity, LOL - running around in here with a null name, 0 handicap, permanent invisibility with some seriously low fragskills! And both me and the MeTaLNET regular "saw" this character as best we could - the shimmer of his invisibility when we were near, felt the results of the few times he hit us with a weapon, etc.
Then that thing in the back of my head roared to life, and with laughter, as my frontal lobes took in the realization that my Ziggy bot seemed to have dropped out of the game at some point, which was weird because, sure, those bots eventually drop or get weeded out, but usually that's over the course of a few maps/games. Bingo. TwEeK! the rookie server admin deftly types into the console:
\rcon status
And what do you think I saw? Yup, damn if my Ziggy bot's name ain't staring back at me on the client list. Yeah, it took a while to light that tiny little light bulb above my head, but it glowed just enough for me to realize that our "visitor" was merely our well-known friend, the gutless little Ziggy bot that usually is so scared he just runs away from everything and spends a lot of time looking at his boots! ROFL! I share my Eureka! moment with the other flesh-and-blood in the game, we laugh and I do a \condump to grab anything that might be of interest. Eventually I \kick my l33t h@x0r Ziggy bot, bring him back in, \kick him again, do this a couple more times (what else can I do to punish him, LOL, or perhaps I should be giving him a raise, hahaha!), but no more wierdness. Oh well, maybe it's a one-time thing....
NOT! Nope, seems to happen not EVERY time, but pretty damn consistently, only on that particular map/game in my map cycle. So, anyone got any suggestions for me on what's up? Am I doing something stupid? Is there a possible bug? (And in asking for such tips, don't you DARE respond with, "Well, definitely don't bring him in at Nightmare level." LOL! Thanks, thought about that already....)
So that's the story, long as usual, but whaddaya expect, comin' from me and all? :-) Just so you can all really have a laugh at our cluelessness that first night, here's the relevant part of the \condump, for that first meeting of Zigbot's alter-ego, Nullman (thought I had screenshots, too, but evidently not):
----- FS_Startup -----
Current search path:
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/Teletubbies.pk3 (153 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/storm3tourney5.pk3 (36 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/speedyctf.pk3 (73 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/simpsons.pk3 (592 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/reptctf12.pk3 (72 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/q3wpak4.pk3 (562 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/q3botcomp.pk3 (3 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/ps9ctf.pk3 (11 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/platypus.pk3 (18 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak6-patch085.pk3 (559 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak6-misc.pk3 (229 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak5-TA.pk3 (139 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak4-textures.pk3 (1753 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak2-players.pk3 (669 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak2-players-mature.pk3 (231 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak1-maps.pk3 (100 files)
on the pure list
./baseoa/pak0.pk3 (1042 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/md3-homie.pk3 (40 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/map-mictourney1a.pk3 (118 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/map-charon3dm13.pk3 (29 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/map-alpha3d.pk3 (18 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/map-13vast.pk3 (83 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/homer.pk3 (67 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/HDsagoalpha.pk3 (15 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/deadmeat.pk3 (164 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/dantesca.pk3 (72 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/boxen.pk3 (130 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/Bot-homie.pk3 (8 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/bastir.pk3 (102 files)
on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/z_oasago2f9_god-final.pk3 (11 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/stchctf9a.pk3 (70 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/q3_q2dm1.pk3 (72 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/q3wpak0.pk3 (287 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/oa_shine2b1.pk3 (23 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/mlctf1beta.pk3 (7 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/mkbase.pk3 (90 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/map-ninemil-ctf1.pk3 (22 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/LetGo_q3a.pk3 (71 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/ctf004_024f.pk3 (25 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/bubctf1.pk3 (72 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/brickyard.pk3 (90 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/7++.pk3 (7 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa/6++.pk3 (9 files)
not on the pure list
/home/tweek/.openarena/baseoa
./baseoa
handle 1: video/idlogo.roq
----------------------
7944 files in pk3 files
Wrote challenges.cfg
RE_Shutdown( 0 )
Hunk_Clear: reset the hunk ok
----- R_Init -----
GL_VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER: GeForce FX 5600 Ultra/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!
GL_VERSION: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.16
GL_EXTENSIONS: GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_fragment_program
GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_half_float_pixel
GL_ARB_imaging GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_multitexture GL_ARB_occlusion_query
GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite
GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_shading_language_100
GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat
GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ARB_window_pos GL_S3_s3tc
GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color
GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract
GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_EXT_Cg_shader GL_EXT_draw_range_elements
GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample
GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil GL_EXT_packed_pixels
GL_EXT_paletted_texture GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object GL_EXT_point_parameters
GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color
GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_shared_texture_palette GL_EXT_stencil_two_side
GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_EXT_texture_env_combine
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_texture_sRGB
GL_EXT_timer_query GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip
GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_KTX_buffer_region GL_NV_blend_square
GL_NV_copy_depth_to_color GL_NV_depth_clamp GL_NV_fence GL_NV_float_buffer
GL_NV_fog_distance GL_NV_fragment_program GL_NV_fragment_program_option
GL_NV_framebuffer_multisample_coverage GL_NV_half_float
GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_multisample_filter_hint GL_NV_occlusion_query
GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil GL_NV_pixel_data_range GL_NV_point_sprite
GL_NV_primitive_restart GL_NV_register_combiners GL_NV_register_combiners2
GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_texture_compression_vtc
GL_NV_texture_env_combine4 GL_NV_texture_expand_normal
GL_NV_texture_rectangle GL_NV_texture_shader GL_NV_texture_shader2
GL_NV_texture_shader3 GL_NV_vertex_array_range GL_NV_vertex_array_range2
GL_NV_vertex_program GL_NV_vertex_program1_1 GL_NV_vertex_program2
GL_NV_vertex_program2_option GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_lod
GL_SGIX_depth_texture GL_SGIX_shadow GL_SUN_slice_accum
GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE: 4096
GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS_ARB: 4
PIXELFORMAT: color(24-bits) Z(24-bit) stencil(0-bits)
MODE:
1280 x 1024 fullscreen hz:N/A
GAMMA: hardware w/ 0 overbright bits
rendering primitives: single glDrawElements
texturemode: GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST
picmip: 0
texture bits: 32
multitexture: enabled
compiled vertex arrays: enabled
texenv add: enabled
compressed textures: disabled
Initializing Shaders
----- finished R_Init -----
Loading vm file vm/ui.qvm...
...which has vmMagic VM_MAGIC_VER2
Loading 1550 jump table targets
VM file ui compiled to 737716 bytes of code
ui loaded in 1450816 bytes on the hunk
74 arenas parsed
1 arenas ignored to make count divisible by 4
32 bots parsed
WARNING: unknown blend mode 'gl_one_minus_dst_color' in shader
'menuback_blueish', substituting GL_ONE
Loading vm file vm/cgame.qvm...
...which has vmMagic VM_MAGIC_VER2
Loading 1227 jump table targets
VM file cgame compiled to 1044179 bytes of code
cgame loaded in 4725504 bytes on the hunk
stitched 8 LoD cracks
...loaded 4193 faces, 39 meshes, 0 trisurfs, 748 flares
WARNING: reused image textures/flares/flarey.tga with mixed glWrapClampMode
parm
WARNING: reused image textures/flares/lava.tga with mixed glWrapClampMode
parm
Can't read sound file music/sonic5.wav
CL_InitCGame: 4.56 seconds
5 msec to draw all images
Com_TouchMemory: 0 msec
Homie was kicked
Nekoyss was kicked
Skelebot was kicked
Full lag compensation is ON!
Ziggy entered the game
Sheletor entered the game
Professor entered the game
Paint it black entered the game
00_1_00 entered the game
TwEeK! entered the game
was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! was helped on the way by Professor
Sheletor ate Professor's rocket
Paint it black was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was gunned down by Professor
Professor was machinegunned by 00_1_00
TwEeK!: shrike sits down there and waits for u to jump down. he rockets up at
ya rofl
00_1_00 almost dodged 's rocket
00_1_00 disconnected
Sheletor ate TwEeK!'s rocket
TwEeK! almost dodged Sheletor's rocket
Professor was machinegunned by Paint it black
Sheletor was electrocuted by TwEeK!
Sheletor was railed by Paint it black
TwEeK! was railed by Paint it black
was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Professor was in the wrong place.
TwEeK!: how does one do a blank name?
TwEeK! ate Professor's rocket
was melted by Sheletor's plasmagun
ate Professor's rocket
TwEeK!: impressive handicap too!
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was gunned down by TwEeK!
TwEeK! was electrocuted by Paint it black
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Professor was in the wrong place.
Paint it black is on a killing spree with 5 kills
Sheletor was electrocuted by Paint it black
TwEeK!: that's got to be a bitch to score with a 0 handicap!
Paint it black ate Professor's rocket
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Sheletor blew himself up.
TwEeK! almost dodged Sheletor's rocket
Professor was in the wrong place.
]\handicap 0
Professor was machinegunned by Paint it black
TwEeK! was gunned down by Sheletor
was gunned down by Professor
]\handicap 5
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
was gunned down by Professor
TwEeK!: how thte hell u set handicap to 0?
Professor ate Paint it black's rocket
Sheletor ate Paint it black's rocket
]\handicap 1
Professor was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! was machinegunned by Sheletor
Professor almost dodged Paint it black's rocket
Paint it black was gunned down by Professor
TwEeK! ate Sheletor's rocket
Sheletor blew himself up.
was gunned down by Professor
TwEeK! almost dodged Professor's rocket
Paint it black tried to invade Sheletor's personal space
ate Professor's rocket
TwEeK!: shit. 1's bad enough. start with 25 health, AND it ticks down! rofl
Professor was helped on the way by Sheletor
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Paint it black: i\who is it i havent seen yey
was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! was machinegunned by Paint it black
Professor was gunned down by Sheletor
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
TwEeK!: i dunno. maybe same person as last game? dunno
Sheletor ate Professor's rocket
TwEeK!: they know a coupe trix tho, lol
Professor was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was electrocuted by Paint it black
TwEeK! was melted by 's plasmagun
Paint it black was melted by 's plasmagun
ate Professor's rocket
Sheletor almost dodged Professor's rocket
TwEeK! was gunned down by Professor
Paint it black was gunned down by Professor
Professor was machinegunned by TwEeK!
was given a small push by Sheletor
TwEeK! ate Sheletor's rocket
Paint it black was machinegunned by TwEeK!
Professor almost dodged Sheletor's rocket
Sheletor blew himself up.
ate Professor's rocket
Paint it black was gunned down by TwEeK!
TwEeK! was helped on the way by Paint it black
Professor was melted by Sheletor's plasmagun
Sheletor ate Professor's rocket
TwEeK! was machinegunned by Paint it black
Professor ate Sheletor's rocket
Paint it black ate Sheletor's rocket
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! ate Professor's rocket
TwEeK!: lol, if a 0 handicap is harder than a 1, then shit, i'm impressed
they've even got any frags!
TwEeK! ate Sheletor's rocket
Sheletor blew himself up.
Professor was in the wrong place.
was machinegunned by Sheletor
Professor was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was helped on the way by Professor
Paint it black was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was helped on the way by Professor
Professor was gunned down by TwEeK!
TwEeK! was electrocuted by Sheletor
Paint it black: is the guy invisible
almost dodged Sheletor's rocket
TwEeK!: i saw that too. perhaps, yes
Professor almost dodged Sheletor's rocket
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Paint it black: i cant see
was helped on the way by Professor
Sheletor ate Professor's rocket
Sheletor almost dodged Paint it black's rocket
]it's like an invisible model, maybe? he doesnt show an icon in the
scoreboard either
TwEeK!: it's like an invisible model, maybe? he doesnt show an icon in the
scoreboard either
Professor was electrocuted by Sheletor
]/rcon status
map: oa_pvomit
num score ping name lastmsg address qport rate
--- ----- ---- --------------- ------- --------------------- ----- -----
0 2 0 Ziggy 100 bot 0 16384
1 11 0 Sheletor 100 bot 0 16384
2 17 0 Professor 50 bot 32001 16384
4 13 230 Paint it black 50 60.240.65.217 55894 25000
7 6 14 TwEeK! 50 68.6.87.247 32001 25000
was in the wrong place.
]lol wow
TwEeK!: lol wow
Paint it black was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! was in the wrong place.
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
]i get more impressed by the minute
TwEeK!: i get more impressed by the minute
was melted by Professor's plasmagun
Paint it black: damn i thought i would follow bot over edge
Paint it black: he landed on ledge
]wait i think i figured 'him' out
TwEeK!: wait i think i figured 'him' out
Sheletor was in the wrong place.
Paint it black: i didnt
TwEeK!: lol i got it
Professor ate Paint it black's rocket
TwEeK!: wow. wish i knew how to trigger that
was in the wrong place.
TwEeK!: that's fucking weird / cool
TwEeK! was helped on the way by Professor
Paint it black was gunned down by Sheletor
was in the wrong place.
TwEeK! was electrocuted by Sheletor
Professor was electrocuted by Sheletor
Sheletor was electrocuted by Paint it black
]/condump ziggybot-0-handicap-invis
Dumped console text to ziggybot-0-handicap-invis.
