Reborn TSR Q&A Time!

[Timeaua]

right now reapers heal in tiberium.

[GeneralCamo]

The spots on the map where subterranean units cannot surface... perhaps paint them in a concrete colour? xD Any chance of this? Those stupid Devil's Tongue pricks can surface on certain parts, different on all maps, where you'd think they shouldn't be allowed to.

 

Also, Cyborg Reapers - are they still planned to be able to heal in tiberium?

 

Walk animations (hold shift), they always seem to get buggered with these big total conversions. Like in APB, instead of the character model using the walk movement animations, they end up running in slow motion. TSR's earlier releases actually had actual walk animations, but this latest release sees the return of the APB slo-mo. xD . Its definitely not a big deal though, I'm just nit picking like a bastard. I'm curious though as to why this phenomenon keeps occurring? If you go to third person, In normal Renegade, holding down shift key while moving around makes your character do a "walking" animation, different movements taken by the character model. But in A Path Beyond, your guy still uses the standard running animation (the same animation that players would display, without holding "Shift" key down), but the character does move slower, resulting in a slow motion running animation, which looks hilarious! Reborn kept the walking animation up until recently I've noticed. Oh, and don't get me started on the "hold space bar down while using shift key". Yes, if you hold down space bar and shift key, you guy (in APB and latest TSR) will finally use the sacred walking animations - but in a sped up fashion! When you hold down space and shift, your guy like hes power walking in fast forward motion! Also, holding down two buttons at once sucks. I just wanna strut.

 

Speaking of holding down buttons... what a pain in the ass. Is there any way to inject some new code, to make adjustments, so that you no longer have to hold down the "Shift" key to walk, or the "C" key to crouch? Instead of holding, make it toggle? Original Renegade had stealth based gameplay intentions (walk so you don't make noise, crouch also makes less footstep noise, plus hide behind cover) but the game is obviously arcade now, and these two functions are definitely so minimal - sorry to waste your time.

 

But yah. FUCK holding down buttons, it is stressful on da fingers. Is it possible to change "held" functions into "toggle"?

 

Are you guys bringing back the "NumPad" character animations? I want my guy to salute my comrades, or kick them in the face.

 

Its the little things, man. Its the little things...

We use textures, not paint.

 

They are.

 

I'll check it out, perhaps something is wrong in the human animation override

 

No

 

That's up to TT

[Jerad2142]

 

Is there a range to the AI's detection? By that I mean it won't target the nearest enemy regardless of location, it would wonder around until it sees something.

Amendment to my previous answer: There IS code existing for AI to only target in a sight arc, but it is not implemented yet in TSR. We may implement it, but since it is untested on the FDS, it will not be anytime soon.

 

Stock Renegade uses line of sight checks for its infantry all the time (on the FDS and in single player) anything that blocks projectiles blocks AI line of sight; so unless you're using some scripts that actually go out of their way to find objects from the objects list and then just start shooting as soon as there is a clear line of fire TSR would also be making use of line of sight.

 

 

Or we could LOD or VIS the interior.

 

VIS hasnt worked with the reborn LE. Dunno if it works now.

Looks like that's something that will need looking into, thanks you for reporting it.

 

Some levels need to be regen'd every time you open it in the level, this is a common thing in ECW and on Bear Island, but in the past I have had a few maps where the vis stuck around from each time I loaded the map. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with how complex the maps vis is.

[RimtechCZ]

i have questions add for maps tech buildings? like Mutant hovel,mutant sidebar,mutant units(Mutant Rebel from old inf beta) but neutral?or Silos for more economy ?

Will you add something like Demolisher ? for Nod who plant nomal mines? or AT(only) mines? because GDI have EMP Mines please

Edited April 26, 2015 by RimtechCZ

[AndrewGOLD]

Thanks! I am so excited! I want that eye candy. Let's drug.

[AndrewGOLD]

Any news? Two mounths ago or even more I was told that a new update will come out with amazing and new features. May I know what will come out in the new patches?

[GeneralCamo]

We've been held up the past month, our last few tests were failures for various reasons. However, this turned out to be a GOOD thing, since Jerad, Jonwil, and the other script team members managed to bring in features that were on the backburner for many months. To give you a taste: We now have Jumpjets that actually fly faster than they walk.

[AndrewGOLD]

Ok, that's really nice.

[Isaac The Madd]

Okay what are the plans for the sever pack?

[GeneralCamo]

Details to be revealed soon. Probably around the release of the next update.

[TK-421]

Will juggies (juggernauts) fire like they do in tiberium sun firestorm in an upcoming update?

[AndrewGOLD]

Probablly not, as I know. Some weeks ago I heard that the engine can't support all the 3 guns, but there is a way to make it work. Sadly I forgot it because I haven't been playing it for a while.

[GeneralCamo]

Probably yes. We have some logic on the pipeline for that.

 

Also, please let the developers answer any questions....

[Raptor29aa]

Will harvesters ever blue tiberium explode like they did in TS? (Like a slow moving mini-nuke)

[darkyuri]

Muzzle flash in Tiberian Sun Reborn is not realistic. Please, Can be not big flames from weapons?

[TK-421]

When will the Jugg fire like it does in Tiberium Sun Firestorm?

[Wallywood]

We don't any plans to change muzzle flash and as of right now. No the juggernaut will fire the same.

[Timeaua]

As there are not very much player online for W3D mods, I think it would be a good solution to have the possiblity to vote for maps after a match is over.

Each map has a normal version for a decent full server, but also a small version for max 10 people.

Often there are around 6 people on a server on a very huge map. Thats not really fun gameplay allthpugh the map is good. If smaller versions of the maps provide more fun, the people will stay there longer and the amount will increase until the "original" map size versions can be played, like they should get played.

[Pushwall]

Wouldn't the "have map size match player count" system render voting redundant...?

APB had a similar system in place a few months ago, but instead of us making differently sized versions of every map (you do realise that would be a huge timesink right?) and having those swap in/out of rotation based on playercount, we just had the very small/very large maps leave the rotation entirely when it was appropriate. However there were crippling bugs with this system - I don't remember what they were exactly - and Silverlight had to disable it. I've asked him to look into remaking the plugin again recently; when we get it working, TSR/AR/etc should easily be able to use it as well.

[Raap]

Mechanics that scale with player count are a very important step to move forward with, for all W3D projects. The problem is, these things cost time, and there aren't enough available hands to make it possible anytime soon.

@Pushwall In regards to scaling map sizes, that might be easier than it looks. You need a single new script that destroys an object - or triggers a 'cinematic' effect that destroys an object - based on reaching a player count. This would then open a lot of creative options for enabling additional map passages if the population is good enough for it. Very plain example; StormyValleys construction site route could be blocked off by mountain rubble until enough players join the game that the rubble gets destroyed and the passage opens up.

You can always go "more fancy" though and enable players to control such mechanics by having scripts not clear such a passage, but by unlocking a secondary objective that allows players to clear it... Returning to the StormyValley example again, instead of just clearing the rubble automatically, instead, do a secondary objective broadcast, spawn a special demolition vehicle in each base, and when it reaches the rubble site, spawn some explosive devices that can damage and destroy the rubble.

Naturally, such things take time, and some maps are more difficult to solve especially if they are open, but there are countless ways to deal with that, and not all require you to change the map into a series of tubes. The only real hurdle is to have a set of scripts that can do versatile things based on a player count.

Edit: This is ignoring anything AI related or anything that "toggles back off" again if player counts drop during a match... You can't (or shouldn't) magically summon a roadblock back when player 8 leaves.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Raap

[Pushwall]

Well technically you can but then you have to deal with the possibility that players might be moving through the recently unblocked area at the time.  So yeah you shouldn't.

Maybe adding/removing blockades (and also base defenses!) would go over better in TSR since they have a much smaller number of maps - with APB, having 6 of the 23 maps not appear in rotation below a certain player count and having another 6 not appear above that same count, that's still 17 maps that can be in rotation at a time and 11 that are always around no matter how few or how many players are around. Whereas TSR has a small enough number of maps that you can't remove many from rotation before things get stale. But frankly I think the TSR team doesn't want to delay the next release any more than they have to; if they take it into consideration it probably won't happen right away.

We already have scripts to toggle map content based on player count (last time we covered this, they weren't around) - APB uses them on Antlion and Seamist to control how many ants or starting vehicles spawn, and I may add them to more maps to remove base defenses. So if the TSR team wants to go the "block/reveal certain map lanes" or "add/remove base defenses" routes those are entirely plausible.

[Raap]

The defense route can work, and would be substantially less labor intensive to set up than map-specific solutions (and probably less confusing as well, consistency is important after all). But you cannot conjure up defenses mid-battle just like that, there are various considerations to make, such as what happens to a player standing in the position of a defense that is spawned? Or what happens if a base is being attacked when suddenly a player joins, activating the defenses and causing a (frustrating) slaughter?

So no, an on or off switch isn't enough. To prevent base defenses from spawning in or out of existence, you need to make sure all defenses are present, but in a clearly visible "deactivated" state in which they neither function or give score credit, unless you'd want deactivated defenses to also be invulnerable, but that'd cause confusion. And to solve defenses enabling and suddenly murdering an ongoing base assault, activation should first be announced with a ~20 second time frame before actually becoming active, a long enough time for players to adjust to the change, as well as preventing people from using dummy accounts to log in or out to mess with the defenses.

Scripting issues aside, you'd also need a compelling "disabled state" visual effect.

The only problem I see here, is the inconsistency it causes with Power Plant logic. If these structures do not actually function to provide defenses with power, then their purpose becomes obsolete. 

 

Edit: But I don't think this is the topic for continuing this subject.  One final thought though, out of the box: Rather than messing with defenses or maps, why not emulate "game speed"? Create three states of gameplay, one for 6 or less players, one for 7 to 12 players, and one for 13 or more players. For the lowest player capacity, reduce the cost of all units by 50% and health of all buildings by 50%, and 25% for the next tier, and standard gameplay for the largest player matches. The result here would be faster gameplay (more action, less focus on economics, quicker map changes, and solo players could achieve more in less time), and faster gameplay for lower population matches is the true goal with anything being brought up on this matter, is it not?

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Raap

[NodGuy]

This is regarding GDI's computer screen theme. Will it be changed from blue to green to better represent GDI during Tiberian Sun? Blue seems too Tiberium Wars-ish to me and a few others.

This is what I posted in the August update but I never got a response, seeing that this topic has some attention I'll ask in here.

 

Quote

From ModDB:

"Sounds great!

Maybe GDI should have a greenish color scheme for their purchase terminals instead of blue considering the E.V.A. interface as it is portrayed in Tiberian Dawn and Tiberian Sun. A blue interface screams EA and Tiberium Wars to me. And that's all wrong.

 

I know it's compelling with Red versus Blue but G.D.I:s color is Gold and their interface is green.

 

e: Also, it would be cool if you could differentiate Nods and GDI:s interfaces so that Nod:s is more CABAL and GDI:s EVA if you understand what I mean. In the picture above they are both the same only the color differs." - ApornasPlanet

 

I couldn't agree more with this post. When I think of GDI during Tiberian Sun, I see the themes and colors seen in the images below.

 

 

When I see the blue, it reminds me of Tiberium Wars, the game that ruined the story for me completely (opinion), not Tiberian Sun. I just thought I'd share this feedback here too.

 

Edit: I just noticed that I typed the GDI acronym and when you hover over it on the forum it tells you what it stands for. That's awesome! Whoever thought of that is awesome.

Edited February 17, 2017 by NodGuy

[Ulysses]

As for vehicle veterancy, will that include ammunition increases, armor, speed, etc? Or will it just be an armor and damage increase? 

[OWA]

17 hours ago, NodGuy said:

This is regarding GDI's computer screen theme. Will it be changed from blue to green to better represent GDI during Tiberian Sun? Blue seems too Tiberium Wars-ish to me and a few others.

This is what I posted in the August update but I never got a response, seeing that this topic has some attention I'll ask in here.

Edit: I just noticed that I typed the GDI acronym and when you hover over it on the forum it tells you what it stands for. That's awesome! Whoever thought of that is awesome.

We've actually been talking about this a lot internally. I'm not sure whether a decision has been made yet as to whether we stick with blue or go with green, but @Wallywood should be able to shed some more light on it.

The new forum is a big step up for us. If you want to tag people in your posts like I did in my previous sentence you can using the @ symbol. Super neat!

 

3 hours ago, Ulysses said:

As for vehicle veterancy, will that include ammunition increases, armor, speed, etc? Or will it just be an armor and damage increase? 

We're still working on overhauling this system currently. We would like for it to be consistent so that players understand exactly what they are getting when they gain veterancy.

[NodGuy]

Good to know. If blue is chosen then I'll just have to make a green skin for it. 

Speaking of skins, I haven't used Photoshop in like 10 years. What's the name of the tool that lets you edit a specific colour? I used to use this tool to make all of Nod's red blue and no matter where I applied it, it would only change the red colour. 

[Gurluas]

So Visceroids are coming but what about other lifeforms/hazards such as the Tiberium Fiend, Mutant forces, civilians, etc.

This being the supposedly final version it'd be cool if there could be such fluff available on some maps.

[OrangeP47]

Perhaps this actually belongs in the bug report section, but I don't know if it's just something not developed yet and technically not a bug therefore. Is the Mammoth actually working? I've been trying out the game solo just to get familiar with maps/units, and while I can order the Mammoth, when it lands, I can't actually get in. Pressing E on it does nothing. I've noticed some infantry can't get in vehicles (that's kinda cool) but I'm pretty sure it's not the issue as I try with a basic rifle infantry. Is it just not 100% implemented or should I report this as a bug (whenever the bug report section gets fixed)?

[forg0ten1]

4 hours ago, OrangeP47 said:

Perhaps this actually belongs in the bug report section, but I don't know if it's just something not developed yet and technically not a bug therefore. Is the Mammoth actually working? I've been trying out the game solo just to get familiar with maps/units, and while I can order the Mammoth, when it lands, I can't actually get in. Pressing E on it does nothing. I've noticed some infantry can't get in vehicles (that's kinda cool) but I'm pretty sure it's not the issue as I try with a basic rifle infantry. Is it just not 100% implemented or should I report this as a bug (whenever the bug report section gets fixed)?

you have to wait about ten seconds after it lands to get in. when the mammoth gets dropped off, it will slowly lower to the ground over the course of a few secs, then you can get in. Also, some characters cant drive vehicles like you said. I'd try with a rifle soldier to be sure.

[OrangeP47]

4 hours ago, forg0ten1 said:

you have to wait about ten seconds after it lands to get in. when the mammoth gets dropped off, it will slowly lower to the ground over the course of a few secs, then you can get in. Also, some characters cant drive vehicles like you said. I'd try with a rifle soldier to be sure.

I've tried with every infantry, really, and I've waited upwards of 5 minutes. It lands, but maybe it isn't touching the ground fully or something.

If that's not as intended, I'd post a bug report, but the bug report link is broken for me :\