[hlcoders] Player info being sent

2005-06-09 Thread Andrew (British_Bomber)
I am curious as to how the server sends information for players.

If I have a number of lives for a player, say 10, and each time the
player dies they lose 1.  That means say every 1 1/2 minutes the
variable would change.  However I have a HUD element that shows the
players lives.  This accesses the local players inforation to get the
lives every OnThink().

If these lives are sent over in the players DataTable will they be
transmitted everytime something in the players DataTable is changed or
just when that particular variable is changed?



-Thanks

Andrew

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



Re: [hlcoders] Speed hack detection, was new SDK version is live

2005-06-09 Thread Jeffrey \botman\ Broome

Jeff Fearn wrote:


I can see how exploiting lag compensation could allow you to speed up
by a factor or two, but the hacks I have seen have been measured in
magnitudes.



I don't believe lag compensation has any visual (rendering) component to
it.  It's solely used on the server to determine if my bullets hit
anyone at the time I said I fired my gun on my client.  There's nothing
in lag compensation that would effect where a player appears to be
(rendered) on a client.

The only thing that would effect where a player appears to be on the
client would be client side prediction.

Speed hacks aren't exploiting lag compensation or client side
prediction.  Speed hacks are telling the server that my client is moving
at a faster rate than the client side movement code would normally allow
(because my client's clock is running faster than the servers).  If
distance is calculated using velocity * time, and I increase either the
velocity or the time, the distance I have moved will increase.  This
distance is passed as the forwardspeed or sidespeed floats in the
UserCmd packet between the client and the server.

I think maybe you are trying to over-analyze this a little too much.

Perhaps you should download a speedhack, start up a LAN dedicated server
with a mod built using the SDK and log the received UserCmd data to a
text file.  Also log the amount of time elapsed between each tick on the
server.

--
Jeffrey botman Broome

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



Re: [hlcoders] Player info being sent

2005-06-09 Thread Andrew (British_Bomber)
Ok, thanks,  so that would mean that the best way would really be just
a usermessage?

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



Re: [hlcoders] Player info being sent

2005-06-09 Thread Adam \amckern\ Mckern
Trial and error

As i said, check that your update packet is not going
to bottel neck, and use that if its going to be easy
to maintain, and code

I am going through alot of the SDK and messing up all
sorts of stuff, but have not had the time to setup a
remote server/client for my message q's

--- Andrew (British_Bomber) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:

 Ok, thanks,  so that would mean that the best way
 would really be just
 a usermessage?

 ___
 To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view
 the list archives, please visit:

http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders




http://ammahls.com




__
Discover Yahoo!
Stay in touch with email, IM, photo sharing and more. Check it out!
http://discover.yahoo.com/stayintouch.html

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



Re: [hlcoders] Player info being sent

2005-06-09 Thread Jeffrey \botman\ Broome

Andrew (British_Bomber) wrote:

Ok, thanks,  so that would mean that the best way would really be just
a usermessage?


Yes.  If you have something that changes only once in a while, just
create a new network message for that specific item.  Then send that
network message when that item is changed.

--
Jeffrey botman Broome

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



[hlcoders] [OT] Sega Animanium Express

2005-06-09 Thread Adam \amckern\ Mckern
Sega Animanium, a 3D character animation software that
has been used by a number of prominent animation
studios and videogame developers in Japan, is now
available in both a full version and a newly released
lite version.

https://secure.usaindexweb.com/animanium/php/download.php

XSI 3.5 (Mod tool is supported- so i hear)

http://animanium.com/download/WWXSI1.01.01.zip

Demo Vid

http://www.animanium.com/php/images/animanium_sample.wmv

http://ammahls.com


__
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



[hlcoders] Valve - Thank you for the CMapOverview update!!

2005-06-09 Thread Ian Warwick
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Just want to commend the person at Valve who fixed it up :) cheers!


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended 
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If 
you have received this email in error you are on notice of its status. Please 
notify us immediately by return email if you are not the intended recipient and 
delete this message. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this 
email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of 
FusionPeople Ltd.

FusionPeople Ltd may monitor outgoing and incoming emails and other 
telecommunications on its email and telecommunication systems.

===
This message has been checked for all known viruses by MessageLabs, The service 
does not scan any password protected or encrypted attachments.  FusionPeople 
Ltd accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this 
email.
--

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



Re: [hlcoders] Speed hack detection, was new SDK version is live

2005-06-09 Thread Jeff Fearn
On 6/10/05, Jeffrey botman Broome [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 Jeff Fearn wrote:
 
  I can see how exploiting lag compensation could allow you to speed up
  by a factor or two, but the hacks I have seen have been measured in
  magnitudes.
 

 I don't believe lag compensation has any visual (rendering) component to
 it.  It's solely used on the server to determine if my bullets hit
 anyone at the time I said I fired my gun on my client.  There's nothing
 in lag compensation that would effect where a player appears to be
 (rendered) on a client.

 The only thing that would effect where a player appears to be on the
 client would be client side prediction.

 Speed hacks aren't exploiting lag compensation or client side
 prediction.  Speed hacks are telling the server that my client is moving
 at a faster rate than the client side movement code would normally allow
 (because my client's clock is running faster than the servers).  If
 distance is calculated using velocity * time, and I increase either the
 velocity or the time, the distance I have moved will increase.  This
 distance is passed as the forwardspeed or sidespeed floats in the
 UserCmd packet between the client and the server.

 I think maybe you are trying to over-analyze this a little too much.

lol have you been talking to my boss? ;)

 Perhaps you should download a speedhack, start up a LAN dedicated server
 with a mod built using the SDK and log the received UserCmd data to a
 text file.  Also log the amount of time elapsed between each tick on the
 server.

I wish I had some spare time, I'd definately do this ...I will do it,
might have to wait a few weeks to get the time though :(

Jeff

___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



Re: [hlcoders] Interface method request: engine-ServerInsertCommand()

2005-06-09 Thread Mattie Casper

Alfred, when you get a moment, can you let me know how this discussion is going?

Even if your team could provide a different interface (rather than IEngine), it
would solve the crying of many a poor admin. Changing the engine interface is
not necessary, that's just the most logical place for it, as I suspect you'd
agree.

In my forums for EventScripts I have admins clamoring for this support. I've had
over 4000 downloads of my plugin (Linux and Windows combined). Yet, without
Valve support and exposure of this function, EventScripts will remain a shadow
of its true potential. On some platforms, EventScripts is severely crippled and
there's really nothing I can do. Without ServerInsertCommand(), I just can't
provide my users the functionality they need.

Anything you can do to help would be intensely appreciated, Alfred. I'm going to
follow-up this email with some examples of the sorts of things that are
impossible for plugin authors without this. I know you guys must use it a great
deal internally or you couldn't provide 'alias' or 'exec', so I'm hoping you can
see the clear value of this to us.

Please open it for plugin writers so we can help you extend your console
commands.

Thanks, as always, for your help,
-Mattie


- Original Message -
From: Alfred Reynolds [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 11:59 PM
Subject: RE: [hlcoders] Interface method request: engine-ServerInsertCommand()



I can suggest it to the team but as its such a base interface we hadn't
planned on altering it any time soon.

- Alfred

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mattie
Casper
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 8:37 PM
To: hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com
Subject: Re: [hlcoders] Interface method request:
engine-ServerInsertCommand()

Thanks, Alfred, for responding.

No-- I'm looking for something different.
IVEngineServer::ServerCommand() places the command at the _end_ of of
the command buffer. I need the same function that the 'exec' command
would use to place a command at the _beginning_ of the command buffer.
Without an InsertAtFront or something similar, in-line variable
expansion is not possible (without lots of command ordering issues).

Thanks a lot for considering my request-- it's quite important to the
community using the EventScripts plugin, and will likely come in handy
for mods down the road.

Thanks again,
-Mattie




- Original Message -
From: Alfred Reynolds [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 5:58 PM
Subject: RE: [hlcoders] Interface method request:
engine-ServerInsertCommand()



Are you looking for IVEngineServer::ServerCommand() which will run a
command on the server?

- Alfred

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mattie
Casper
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 7:59 PM
To: hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com
Subject: [hlcoders] Interface method request:
engine-ServerInsertCommand()

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ] Valve reps,

Is there any way you can extend the IVEngineServer interface to
provide
ServerInsertCommand() (or some other relevant name)? It would work a
lot like the old Quake engine's command buffer function
(Cbuf_InsertText) that allows a console command to be inserted at the

front of the buffer.

I assume a similar function exists in the HL2 engine, because, as far
as I know, exec would need something like that to work correctly.

If you could expose this function, it would allow my server plugin to
cleanly support in-line variable expansion for my concommands.

Thanks so much for your help,
-Mattie
--


___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives,



please visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders


___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives,



please
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders






___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives,
please visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders


___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders






___
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please 
visit:
http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders



[hlcoders] Examples of uses for IEngine-ServerInsertCommand()

2005-06-09 Thread Mattie Casper


As promised, this email contains examples of the sorts of things that plugin
authors cannot manage in Source without some method to insert commands at the
beginning of the server command queue. This ability is vital for any plugin
wishing to create meta console commands. I.e. commands like alias, exec,
incrementvar, etc.

Variable expansion --

 EventScripts makes extensive use of variable expansion for its console
commands, and it's crippled without InsertCommand(). There's no way to arrange
for expanded commands to execute right away before the rest of a config file.
For example, let's say I added the following lines to a .cfg file (e.g.
server.cfg):

// server.cfg
// let's say 'mypluginvar' is a variable exposed by my plugin
mypluginvar ClanMatch
expandvars echo *** mypluginvar equals %mypluginvar%
echo *** The above line should say mypluginvar equals ClanMatch
echo *** server.cfg is completely done. should see nothing else.
// end server.cfg

So, if my plugin's 'expandvars' command expanded variables in the string
provided to it and then passed it back to the server, the only mechanism it can
use is ServerCommand(). This will place it AFTER everything else in the queue.
As such, the output would be:

*** The above line should say mypluginvar equals ClanMatch
*** server.cfg is completely done. should see nothing else.
*** mypluginvar equals ClanMatch

This is definitely not what someone writing a .cfg file would be expecting. They
expect the commands to go in order of writing. EventScripts supports a great
deal of variable expansion, but there's no support for intuitive ordering. This
example is trivial compared to the complicated scripts people are creating. It
really weakens the plugin when admins can't trust that your variables will be
expanded properly in relation to other commands in the cfg file.
-

Conditional expressions --
-
 EventScripts supports conditional expressions. These are also hindered without
InsertCommand(). The order of execution again gets all out of phase. For
example, let's say I added the following lines to a .cfg file (e.g. server.cfg):

// server.cfg
// let's say my plugin exposes an exec_if command
exec_if sv_gravity  800 then reset_grav.cfg
echo *** sv_gravity was set back to 800 by increase_grav.cfg
exec_if sv_gravity  800 then something_wrong.cfg
// end of server.cfg

In this case, the plugin command exec_if would test the condition sv_gravity
 800 and then use, sadly, ServerCommand() to place exec reset_grav.cfg in
the queue where it could reset the gravity back to 800. Unfortunately, this goes
to the very end of the queue, so the rest of the server.cfg executes first. This
means the second conditional will STILL see sv_gravity incorrectly because it
goes through the server command queue like this:

1. exec_if
2. echo
3. exec_if
4. exec reset_grav.cfg
5. exec something_wrong.cfg

#5 should never happen-- and #4 should happen before the 'echo' does. Yet we
can't do this because InsertCommand() isn't yet available to plugin writers.
-

Loops --
--
 EventScripts does not yet support loops, but these would also be possible if
Valve provided a way to insert commands at the beginning of the queue. Without
it, you cannot be certain that the loop lines will execute before the next line
in a script.
--

Enhanced versions of alias, exec, etc
-
EventScripts doesn't do this yet, but if I wanted to create an enhanced version
of these Valve commands, the new commands will always be deficient without
InsertCommand(). For example, if we wanted to write an optimized exec command
that cached the .cfg file in memory on the first execution and then always ran
it from memory whenever called (to avoid refetches from disk):

// server.cfg
memexec only_changes_on_reboot.cfg
exec load_plugins.cfg
// end of server.cfg

In this case, simulating exec is impossible if I wish to maintain the order of
a .cfg file. I.e., we can't cycle through the lines of the file and have them
inserted at the beginning of the command queue like Valve does. This means that
anytime we try to add the lines, they'll always fall *after* every other line in
the .cfg file. Order is important at times for plugins and the like, and without
that we just can't improve upon the console commands very well.
-


Anyway, I'm going to stop now because this is getting so long that I'm sure no
one will read it. ;) Rest assured that all of these things and more would be
possible if Valve enhanced the Source SDK to include a mechanism for adding
commands to the beginning of the queue.

Anyone curious about using EventScripts, you can find my forums here:
http://www.sourcemod.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=20

Thanks for reading this far. Maybe it will give other coders some ideas, too,
-Mattie