On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:57 AM, un dead <[email protected]> wrote: > As you know, GTV is an abandoned program that is used for viewing > Quake3 matches. It has a number of issues that make it a pain: > > * GTV is closed source and based off of an old quake3 source tree (IIRC 1.17). > * It's a separate executable so you have to find someone with a server > that allows for arbitrary files like a more expensive VPS. Typical > game hosting companies only want you to run an approved game server > version. > * You cannot easily synchronize a shoutcast with GTV in its normal > usage. For competition, it has to be delayed 3-5 minutes in order to > prevent cheating. The only way to do this currently is to manually > synchronize it which doesn't work out well in practice. UrT used to > have shoutcast years ago but have dropped it since. It never worked > properly so you would either hear the commentator talking about things > that already happened or spoiling the surprises. > * Text chat has no concept of channels. If you have one GTV server > with multiple games, they all share the same chat area. > * You can't really use it with standalone mods. UrT has a "binary > edited version" just so it will work with it. > * It requires a human cameraman and that person may be cheating for > one of the participating clans. > > If you were going to base it off of ioquake3, it would have these advantages: > > * Always be in sync with ioquake3 so you get the latest features/bug fixes > * Allow for GTV to be integrated into ioquake3 rather than a separate > executable. > * Utilize the VoIP support in ioquake3 to allow for properly > synchronized voice chat. As the VoIP is piggy backed, it would be > possible to buffer this data with the game data. > * Allow for new features such as the ability to constrain which other > games you receive text chats for > * Allow for standalone games based off of ioquake3 to officially use GTV > * Allow for VoIP on the GTV client side. Maybe this wouldn't work out > in practice (trolls), but it is possible. > * Optionally allow for an automated cameraman. I don't know if this > would work out in practice, but if the game server buffered the data > for GTV (optional 2nd mode), then the game server could have an > algorithm to pick which player to view. Perhaps look at K/D ratio and > switch between the top players when they die. Rotate it so some of > the middle and lower tier players are viewed for a while as well but > focus on the top players. As the game server buffers the data, it > wouldn't be an issue with cheating. Normally GTV buffers the data > since the cameraman needs to be able to switch between players. An > automated method would allow anyone to view a game without needing a > cameraman. It's typically a big ordeal getting GTV enabled on a match > since you need league admins or other trusted people doing it because > of the cheating aspect. > > The original GTV was a standalone executable with a configuration > file. Would it make sense for a server to essentially have a GTV > service with a separate configuration or even just new server config > vars? A game server could export a GTV service that allows for a > restricted GTV client so it can only perform certain whitelisted > operations. Maybe this is done through a separate password/cvar upon > connecting. A second server would be needed to host the GTV clients > so it doesn't lag the game server. There would be four modes of > operation for ioquake3: client, listening server, dedicated game > server and dedicated GTV server. This would allow for people to > potentially shut down a pub for a while and host GTV clients without > requiring a separate executable. > > I've been floating this idea around for a while and I find a lot of > people interested in the results, but no one interested in helping. > Could anyone with experience in ioquake3 provide guidance on whether > this is a good idea and any implementation suggestions or help/lead? > Does a standalone executable still make sense or could it be > integrated into an optional feature in an ioquake3 server?
Hi, I run GTV servers for UrT and I can tell you that an open source version would be extremely nice. We would fix all the bugs in it immediately. _______________________________________________ ioquake3 mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ioquake.org/listinfo.cgi/ioquake3-ioquake.org By sending this message I agree to love ioquake3 and libsdl.
