TagYerIt 1.15 beta 5 - One Player Against Many ============================================================================ Name: TagYerIt Version: 1.15 beta 5 (4/24/98) - Black Friday Release Quake 2 version: v3.12-3.14 Author: Two Pole Software - SteQve: main programmer - Rohn: ideas and skins - X: ideas Email: steqve@shore.net, rohn@pubrats.com, x@pubrats.com Web page: http://www.shore.net/~steqve/quakemods.html Description: One player, called "It," is pitted against every other player. It inflicts more damage and takes less damage than normal, and also has an easily visible yellow glow like the blue shell of Quad damage. It scores frags by killing non-Its (Nits). The only way a Nit can score a frag is by killing It. Depending on server settings, the killer of It becomes the new It, or a new It is chosen randomly. With 4 players or more, "It" can change rapidly. Credits: See "Credits" section below, but all beta testers provided valuable feedback. ============================================================================ ******************************************** Mod Information ******************************************** * Play Information * Single Player : No Deathmatch (2-16) : Yes New Sounds : No New Graphics : Mostly no; however, new skins can be used if specified New Music : No * Construction * Base : gamex86.dll Editor(s) used : Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Known Bugs : none Build Time : A few minutes on a Dell Dimension XPS P200 with 32M RAM. Modification Details : on request Files modified : About 6, including p_client.c, g_save.c, g_combat.c, and others Source included : no; the next release will include source ============================================================ TagYerIt 1.15 beta 5 - special "Black Friday" Release README ============================================================ This release is technically a beta release, but it has no known bugs and a lot of features that are not in 1.14. An official release of TagYerIt 1.15 has been delayed due to a fire in SteQve's apartment building on "Black Friday" April 24, 1998. SteQve's computer is currently on hiatus. Read this section for BRIEF notes on the changes and installation. If you have any questions, contact SteQve at steqve@shore.net. ============ Installation ============ 1) BACK UP your TagYerIt folder, if you have one 2) BACK UP your GenderMod folder, if you have one 3) Extract Tag115b5.zip into your Quake 2 folder. It will create a TagYerIt and a GenderMod folder 4) Edit the "Password" entry in TagYerIt.ini. This file also contains about 15 options that control the game, but the default options are suggested. See "Editing TagYerIt.ini" for details. 5) Read ServObit.txt to change your death messages. The defaults are fine. YOU CAN USE YOUR OLD OBITS.TXT IF YOU WISH, BUT THIS VERSION OF SERVOBIT IS MORE POWERFUL. 6) Read the rest of this README file for TagYerIt settings. The defaults are fine. 7) You can use your old TagMaps.txt if you wish, as well as your old TagYerIt.ini file, although to disable VWep you would have to add the VWepEnabled option. 8) Run the game with the "+set game TagYerIt" option 9) For best play, set the deathmatch flags to include "automatic respawn" (value 1024). This will prevent some forms of "cheating" or delaying the game. (The problem will be fixed in the next release). 10) Also set the RESPAWN_FURTHEST flag to allow players to respawn away from It. 11) When you start the server, watch the console output for any errors in when ServObit and TagYerIt start up. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR THIS BETA RELEASE. ============================================================ New Features ============================================================ 1) Q2 CTF-like "id" command 2) VWep - can be disabled with VWepEnabled=0 setting in TagYerIt.ini 3) Improved HUD 4) "It" is highlighted on scoreboard with yellow box 5) Includes ServObit 1.4 and GenderMod 0.2 - more powerful obits that reflect the gender of the model the player is using. 6) Player can disable message-of-the-day with F1 or TAB 7) SPAWN_FURTHEST flag spawns players away from It 8) Other stuff I forget but will be apparent to Tag fans ============================================================ Changes Since v1.01 ============================================================ Bug Fixes --------- An error would sometimes occurred during map selection where TagYerIt would select the base1 map even if it wasn't the next "logical" map to run. This bug has been fixed. This release includes a new version of ServObit (1.31), which has some bug fixes. See ServObit.txt for details. New Features ------------ When a player becomes It, the top right of their screen flashes yellow for 10 seconds. This makes it easier for some players to tell when they become It. This version uses ServObit 1.31, a special TagYerIt-only release of ServObit. It includes several bug fixes and the option to print some of your message of the day in green text. You may notice some "new" obituaries that didn't show up before - some are actually old obituaries that weren't being selected properly due to a ServObit bug, and others are new ones courtesy of Sati and Hawkeye. "Random" selection of players is now more fair, so that in cases when a new It must be randomly selected (e.g. in case of suicide), TagYerIt will choose players who have not recently become It. "cmd tag who" now also gives # of ItFrags that It has, plus time left. New sounds - when someone reaches the ItFrag bonus, a special sound is played as an award. When It has 10 seconds left before they run out of their allotted time, The TagMaps.txt map selection file has been updated to include the official Deathmatch maps, and to exclude other maps that experience has shown to not work well in TagYerIt. Another option that could have a significant impact on gameplay is included, however, me and the others at Two Pole Software are concerned about abuse of this option, so we've documented it in this file, but you have to look for it. So *thppppt*. ============================================================ Installation ============================================================ 1) Create a TagYerIt directory in your quake2 directory 2) IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ANY PREVIOUS VERSION OF TAGYERIT INSTALLED (including 1.1 beta): - Backup your Obits.txt file, if you've changed it - Backup your TagYerIt.ini file, if you've changed it - Backup your TagMaps.txt file, if you've changed it NOTE: These files will be replaced by the files included in the distribution. HOWEVER, you should compare the Obits.txt and TagMaps.txt in this distribution with your own modified copies. Note that the Obits.txt from previous versions has some "bugs" in it which are fixed in the new Obits.txt. Also, the minimum player stats q2dm1-q2dm8 have been changed, and some other maps as well. 3) Extract your zip file into the TagYerIt directory. You will have a gamex86.dll (or gamei386.so for Linux), Obits.txt, ServObit.txt, TagYerIt.txt, and TagYerIt.ini file. WARNING: For Linux, the TagYerIt directory MUST have those capital letters. 4) TagYerIt uses ServObit 1.31, a death message mod. Death messages are recorded in Obits.txt. ServObit.txt will tell you how to make your own death messages, but the default is sufficient. 5) Edit the "Password" entry in TagYerIt.ini. This file also contains about 15 options that control the game, but the default options are suggested. See "Editing TagYerIt.ini" for details. 6) Examine the TagMaps.txt file. It contains a description of maps that can be used by TagYerIt, plus the minimum number of players required to use each map. See "Editing TagMaps.txt" for details. 7) Run the game with the option "+set game TagYerIt" 8) For best play, set the deathmatch flags to include "automatic respawn" (value 1024). This will prevent some forms of "cheating" or delaying the game. (The problem will be fixed in the next release). 9) When you start the server, watch the console output for any errors in when ServObit and TagYerIt start up. ============================================================ TagYerIt Game Description ============================================================ TagYerIt is a deathmatch mod. It generally requires 3 or more players, but can be played with 2. 1) TagYerIt pits one person ("It") against everybody else (Non-Its, or "Nits"). 2) Only the person who is It gets frags. The person who kills It also gets frags. 3) It is given a yellow glow similar to quad damage. 4) It can inflict more damage and takes less damage than Nits (Non-Its). 5) When a Nit kills an It, the Nit becomes It - unless an option says to pick the next It randomly. 6) If It reaches an "ItFrag" limit or runs out of time, they are "retired" and a random person is chosen to be It (or, the last victim is chosen to be It, depending on the server option). 7) An option can be set to use specialized skins instead of a yellow shell. ============================================================ Editing TagYerIt.ini ============================================================ The TagYerIt.ini file contains about 15 options that control the game. these options can also be set via "cmd" style commands that can be executed remotely by anyone who specifies the proper password. TagYerIt password ----------------- The TagYerIt password is specified in TagYerIt.ini. Any changes to the game settings via the "cmd" interface must utilize this password. NOTE: CHANGE THIS PASSWORD FROM THE DEFAULT. OTHERWISE, ANYBODY WHO KNOWS THE DEFAULT PASSWORD WILL BE ABLE TO CHANGE THE SETTINGS ON THE GAME. TagYerIt options ---------------- TagYerIt options can be set in the TagYerIt.ini file or by a console command interface. A TagYerIt "admin" can change the settings for a game. The default options seem to work very well, although they have not been tested for more than 10 players. Note that you can create very different games of TagYerIt by changing the options. Console Commands ---------------- These commands can be executed on the game's console or by any client. "cmd tag help" --> lists TagYerIt command options "cmd tag options" --> prints TagYerIt options "cmd tag who" --> tells client who is It "cmd tag status" --> tells who has already been selected to be It for "random" selections (e.g. when It leaves the game, suicides, etc.) "cmd tag admin PASSWORD help" --> lists server "admin" options "cmd tag admin PASSWORD option value" --> sets option to value "cmd tag admin PASSWORD who" --> announces to everyone who is It ============================================================ Option Explanations ============================================================ Most options are fairly self-explanatory. MinPlayers=2 ------------ Minimum number of players needed for a game. MaxItSeconds=120 ---------------- Maximum number of seconds someone can be It. After this amount of time, someone else is chosen randomly. MaxItKillerFrags=5 ------------------ Maximum number of frags someone can get while they are It. If they reach the max, they receive a FragLimitBonus. If ItVictimBecomesIt is nonzero, It's last victim becomes It, otherwise another It is randomly chosen. MaxItVictimFrags=1 ------------------ Number of times that It must be killed before a new It is chosen. ItKillerBecomesIt=1 ------------------- If a Nit (non-It) kills It, then they become It if ItKillerBecomesIt is 1, otherwise the next It is randomly chosen. ItVictimBecomesIt=1 ------------------- If It kills a Nit and reaches the MaxItKillerFrags, then the victim becomes It if ItVictimBecomesIt is 1, otherwise the next It is randomly chosen. ItDamageSpec1=2:150:75 ItDamageSpec2=4:200:50 ItDamageSpec3=10:300:50 ----------------------- These are of the format NumPlayers:InflictDamage:TakeDamage A spec of 2:50:200 says "when there are 2 players or more, It inflicts 150% normal damage and takes 50 normal damage." You can set three separate damage levels so that, for example, you can make It more powerful when there are more players in the game. NOTE: make sure the # of players is INCREASING. TagYerIt will match the LAST spec that has the minimum number of players. If you want to temporarily disable a spec, set its number of players to 0. NonItDamage=25 -------------- Nits (NonIts) do this percentage of damage to each other. Since Nits can't get frags by killing each other, consider setting this to 0. FragLimitBonus=2 ---------------- If It reaches MaxItKillerFrags within MaxItSeconds, they received this many bonus frags. Set to 0 to disable. ItUseShell=1 ------------ When nonzero, gives It that yellow glow, like Quad or invulnerability. ItColor=yellow -------------- ItColor can be yellow, cyan, or purple. NOTE: purple apparently shows up as brown on non-GL systems. NitsScoreFrags -------------- This is a new 1.1 option. It's buried deep in this README file because the authors aren't sure it should even be an option. Anyway, if you set it to anything other than 0, when a Nit kills another Nit, this many frags will be added to their score. Want to punish a Nit for killing another Nit? Set NitsScoreFrags to -1. Want to allow Nits to kill each other? We strongly suggest not doing so, but alas, we want to give you the power to do so. Setting NitsScoreFrags to 1 or greater will reward Nits for killing other Nits. But a warning: the Tag fans on your server might not be too happy about such a setting. ItUseSkin=0 ----------- If nonzero, will set It's skin to FemaleItSkin or MaleItSkin. NOTE: the skins capability may not be as stable because it has not been fully beta tested, but you may like using them more than the glowing shells. There are no known bugs in the skin code. You are encouraged only to use It skins if all participating clients have the skin. FemaleItSkin=itgirl MaleItSkin=itboy ---------------- Skin names for a female and a male It. The itgirl and itboy skins will be released with TagYerIt. Generally, a highly visible skin is encouraged. ============================================================ Editing TagMaps.txt ============================================================ TagMaps.txt is used to specify what maps will be used in TagYerIt, plus the minimum number of players for each separate map. Some maps can be too large or complex for a small number of players; some are too complex for TagYerIt at all. Each map specification is of the form: MinPlayers:mapname When TagYerIt selects the next map to use, it examines the number of players that are in the game that has just ended. It uses that to select the next appropriate map. The default values set in TagMaps.txt may need to be tweaked a little bit. Some more maps may need to be excluded entirely. Maze-like maps such as the city or warehouse maps are omitted, because even with a large number of players, each individual player rarely confronts It. While the "hunt" is part of TagYerIt, hunts in these maps take too long. Good maps for TagYerIt ---------------------- Maps with fairly wide open spaces seem to be the best for TagYerIt, since It is easily visible and multiple players can attack It at the same time. Generally, in these maps, It will change hands very rapidly in a very short amount of time. In good melees, It will change hands 3 times in 5 seconds, sometimes even more rapidly if there are 8 players or more. ============================================================ Changing TagYerIt gameplay ============================================================ You can set the damage options so that It receives no damage. In that way, It will have MaxItSeconds to kill as many people as possible. Set the damage options so that It receives 10 times normal damage (1000%). The first person to find It will generally become It. In general, the higher you set the damage that It takes, the more quickly It will change from player to player. You can change the ItDamageSpecs to have radically different gameplay depending on the number of players. ============================================================ Credits ============================================================ Rohn created the Itboy and Itgirl skins. Sati and Hawkeye provided servers for TagYerIt 1.1 beta, and have been very helpful in identifying and reporting problems. They also wrote some new death messages that were included in this version of Obits.txt. The beta testers provided valuable feedback for TagYerIt 1.0. The most notable and/or determined beta testers include Ghandi, Harbinger, NetD104b, Ferdy, Solo, Razor, Souls(GI) for recruiting, and Sniper for demos. BigQEd, of 1st.net in Ohio, provided a fast test server, as did Dan Berlin of University of Rochester. Many favors are owed to both.