Dynamic spawning

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SpiNacH
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Dynamic spawning

Post by SpiNacH »

I see we seem to have dynamic spawning going on now. Not a fan of this at all. I much prefer all spawns at map load. It sure is odd to have spawns suddenly appear out of thin air. I don't see how this enhances gameplay what so ever. I guess I am oldschool and like to clear an area and have it stay cleared. I thought we had the advanced server for those that wish for endless spawns.

If the idea is to give player who are joining the map after map start something to shoot, I think it is a very weak solution. Having a few monsters (very few) to shoot at for half a map is not much better than no monsters at all.
Any decent Admin on duty will simply summon new players on arrival. To me, this is a much better solution then dynamic spawns. Just my 2 cents.
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

we did not switch to dynamic spawning on jackals as we have it on the advanced coop, but a few players complained, there were too many monsters which stressed them, although if there were only 10 monsters spawned in that map, but depending on the map, some spawnpoints might be too near at player start...
that's why the spawner is set to bUsePlayerLoadBalancing=true now. that means depending on how many players are on (including how many join while map is on), the spawner produces spawns up to max monsters set. nothing else changed.

it is pretty impossible to please all wishes. for the one there are too many monsters, for the other there are too few, as no one can predict how many players will be on a map...

to me, the monsters and spawnpoints should be unpredictable, that's still most fun. but i understand that some players always keep an eye on their score, so as far as i figured out, the "easy going" pleases most on jackals....

so, this "dynamic spawning" got nothing to do with the spawnersettings we have on the advanced. if there is right from start server full with players, the spawner will spawn all monsters immediately, since the general spawner settings for jackals are still very low on the majority of maps. but if there are only 1-3 players on, and players join and drop again, you will notice this "dynamic" effect a bit.

WOOF!
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SpiNacH
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by SpiNacH »

I fully understand what bUsePlayerLoadBalancing is Strat, as I was one of the few to test out the different spawner settings for many months with TKR.

I really dislike playing and having a spawn appear out of thin air. To me, it ruins the immersion of the game. We tested many settings with the spawner, and there was a reason we did not use bUsePlayerLoadBalancing.
Both TKR and myself disliked monsters popping out of thin air, however he added this option at the request of Sparky. Leave this setting enabled if you wish, but you will see a lot less of players who dislike it such as myself.
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by SpiNacH »

Just to clarify bUsePlayerLoadBalancing=true is dynamic spawning.
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

well, i just pointed out that it is not the same setting as on the advanced and i explained already why this "dynamic effect" appears....

by now, it is only you who complained about the new settings. if there is anyone else, he/she should post please.
sparky complained about the settings before and various players complained about the old settings we had for a long time, so that was the point when sparky granted rubi to rework the monsterspawner-settings for all maps... and for sure, the behavior of monsters and spawning changed since we shifted to 227. all together caused a different gameplay than we had years ago (my personal opinion: to a better gameplay)

if we deactivate the playerloadbalance setting, all spawner-settings need to be reworked. and it will never be possible to have a setting that will please all - a decreased spawnersetting that works good for 1-3 players will cause empty maps for most other players, and a setting that would be suitable for 10 players, will cause stress if there are only 2 players on that map.

but we will move on from the "likes/dislike-wishlist" to a more active and constructive collaboration. all admins who are not pleased with current settings, are asked to contribute suggestions and work out a functionable spawner-setting. you are free to use the COOP TESTSERVER for testing purposes - this is a 1:1 copy of JACKALS COOP (just few more testmaps on this)!

i will support by editing the spawner settings to your values (please use the xls-file to edit your settings and return that to me) and if anyone works out a good setting, that will be accepted by ALL, we can use that on JACKALS COOP! last word on this as usual by OldSparky and Jackal.
but simply saying "i dislike this", won't help at all!

WOOF! WOOF!
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SpiNacH
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by SpiNacH »

OK, first off I will apologize for my biased opinion of the new spawner settings.

I realize now that all are just trying to improve gameplay for everyone. Which is impossible, as different players seek different things as far as gameplay goes. Please try to remember, I come from an era on Newbie's when we didn't have all these mods on the server. No monster spawner, no player respawn, you died and hiked it from map start. This is the reason I started playing on Jack's, as every other server was modded up the ying yang and Jackal's was the only server to stay true to original gameplay.

But those days are long gone, and there will never be a server such as Jackal's was, back in the day. As a long time Unreal player, I shed a tear at this, but realize times change.

Sorry to go off topic. On topic, there are a few problems I have noticed with the new settings. Many maps don't spawn any monsters at all, this was with 4 players, and on maps that are pretty lame without spawner. Unsure of why this is happening, but sure makes gameplay uneven.....some maps spawn...............some don't. With 4 players, it seems odd. Haven't looked at what is set exactly in spanwner settings, but something not right.

Still unhappy with new settings, but will try to troubleshoot and add constructive criticism when able.
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by SpiNacH »

As it seems I can't edit my post any longer I will reply here after carefully re-reading STRATs posts.

As my opinion, or " likes/dislike-wishlist" is so irrelevant, then so is my membership in the DOG clan. Obviously this has become STRAT clan and no longer DOG clan, and I wish no part of it.

I wish to thank all the good DOGs I have met over the years for all the good gameplay and good times. But being in the STRAT clan just doesn't appeal to me.
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

how funny! "STRAT clan". just in case you did not notice, spin: i never asked for this, to carry the clan's administration - i'm doing this, because OldSparky's health is not in good shape and he asked me to do so! not more not less! while i'm very busy with my real life job, dealing with real life problems every day, it is just a pleasure to deal with the whining and complaining going on here!

i offered you a reasonable choice to actively help to improve, since i only try to improve gameplay for the majority. to me, the settings before were ok, but as i told you, some players were unhappy - especially sparky. i added current spawner list but you even did not look at this - just go on with the complaining! i asked you to drop new values for each map - but that seems too much work for you.
since i play on these servers, i mainly heard negative comments from your side. if it is not the complaining about server-settings, it is the neverending "unreal is dead" paroles.... this really helps a lot to keep the game alive and encourages new players who might want to have a closer look at this game. to keep the game alive, development is necessary. but you are stuck somewhere back. any setting that you liked, meant to "punish" new or unexperienced players - i remember all the discussions regarding the respawner - if it was to you, a player who dies had to come back from start - no matter how long he'd have to run through an empty map - just because you saw each map as a contest. but i wanted to have new players some fun as well. this is not a "spin-only" show!!

WOOF! WOOF!
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Re: Dynamic spawning

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

the new spawner-settings are set and activated!
thanx a lot to rubi for doing all this testing and evaluating! i hope the coop players will enjoy! :)

WOOF! WOOF!
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