Stats are broken for the TFC Hunted Server. I'm working on getting them fixed but there are some issues I have to work out first server-side and also I'm looking for a replacement for AEstats. This is related to the "server-side" issues =).
I'll be putting up a Rocket Arena:UT server sometime in the next few days. There have been some speed bumps (bugs, patches) since it's release so I just want to make sure it's stable before diving in. Please be patient toward both of these issues, work's been killing me.
-Rhomboid
After a long drought it looks like we have some decent (if not tasty) new Unreal Tournament Assault maps! Yay! This week the three Assault category winners of the "Make Something Unreal" contest will be added to the SpaceMonster Assault UT Server. The top three Assault maps are:
1) Bridge - Claude Meyer
2) Asthenosphere - Willhaven
3) Crash Site - CillerCongratulations to the winners. This is some high quality stuff, keep it up you nutty mappin' fools!
In the process of hunting these puppies down I came across three other good Assault maps which will be making the rotation as well: AS-ColdSteel, AS-Prototype and AS-RotationOfPower. AS-RotationOfPower surprised me. I loaded it up and immediately thought "nope" as it looked like a tiny, simple little map but I didn't yet see the bowels that lurked below the surface structures. Of the five new maps I consider it the "iffyest" but we'll throw it against the wall and see if it sticks =). Splat!
Also, I'm currently working on getting the servers upgraded to UT 4.13. I'll most likely do the hard-core work later this afternoon or early evening (Tuesday) but I'll be making backups tonight so there might be some lag, sorry, but them servers is just so damn busy, heh.
Of course all the maps will be made available for download on the FTP site, ftp://ftp.SMGN.com/epicgames/unreal_tournament/maps.
-Rhomboid
I've adjusted the mapcycle on the SMGN Hunted-Only TFC server slightly by adding three maps. Here is the current rotation:
nml2
cityhunted
cnynhnt
extraction
prezrun
thepres
aix_germantown
hunted
cityhunt
sub_hunt
betrayed
dfhuntv2
hrama11
breakout
urtwThe new maps are nml2, aix_germantown, and dfhuntv2. Naturally, all are available on our FTP site: ftp://ftp.smgn.com/half-life/tfc/maps.
-Rhomboid
As promised here's a list of the current map lists on the Unreal Tournament servers...
SpaceMonster Assault:
AS-HiSpeed
AS-Frigate
AS-Siege
AS-Rook
AS-Mazon
AS-OceanFloor
AS-Overlord
AS-LavaFort
AS-BridgeSpaceMonster CTF:
CTF-LavaGiant
CTF-November
CTF-Command
CTF-HallOfGiants
CTF-Hydro16
CTF-Esprit
CTF-Orbital
CTF-Shiggy
CTF-SOB_forts
CTF-TwinValley
CTF-Stronghold
CTF-DiamondSwordSpaceMonster Domination:
DOM-Cinder
DOM-Gearbolt
DOM-Cryptic
DOM-Ghardhen
DOM-Leadworks
DOM-Olden
DOM-Sesmar
DOM-MetalDream
DOM-MorpheusSpaceMonster Team Deathmatch:
DM-Phobos
DM-Barricade
DM-Tempest
DM-Morpheus
DM-UrbanArena][
DM-Gothic
DM-Zeto
DM-Conveyor
DM-Deck16][
DM-Morpheus2All of these maps (and many others) should be available at ftp://ftp.SMGN.com/epicgames/unreal_tournament/maps.
Generally, as I review maps for the server I dump them there if they at least rate a "maybe". I'm still reviewing maps regularly for inclusion in the rotation. I'll post any removals and additions to the servers here as they happen. I'm sorry I didn't get the list up sooner but it's just been one of those killer months...
-Rhomboid
Spronk! I'm back... Rhomboid is now a married man, sorry ladies =)
I've been on vacation (honeymoon) for the last week so I'm a bit behind on the email, sorry. I got home to a whopping 70 Megs of the stuff and finally cleared through the hot items late today. If I haven't responded to you it's just because I was so busy with the wedding planning, the wedding, and the honeymoon since about mid-February.
I'd like to touch on a couple of the more common subjects of recent emails to Yours Truly:
Map lists for UT servers - I've heard your cries of pain. We will be doing something about this very shortly. I've had several people want a list of the maps running on each UT server so they can download them ahead of time via FTP rather than in-game. I'll post an update in the next day or so with a list of the maps for each of the servers. After that we'll work on something a bit more easy to maintain and use. Part of the reason I've held off on this is that the upcoming 4.06 version of UT is going to have a built-in feature to directly address this issue and I don't want to re-invent the wheel.
Reservations of UT servers for clan matches - Not happening anytime soon. I've tried to do this in the past for many games/mods but it just isn't feasible for the general public. I'll consider it for friends and people who have proven themselves useful, respectful and conscientious but I'm not going to ride that public bronco again soon. Sorry. Most people were patient and competent but I got my ass burned way too many times. I will revisit this issue if better administration tools appear on the scene. Hint: repeated spamming of my email address with more and more exclamation points doesn't get you on my 'good side' or reassure me that you are worthy of trust. Also: If you find yourself composing an email to me and asking for a "faster" contact method, like ICQ, a private email address, my pager email, or my phone number and I don't know you personally you should just cancel that message right now...
Custom Skins for UT - this is a can of worms that I'm not sure if I want to open. I used to do this for Quakeworld and it got STOOPID, I had over 1500 skins on the server at one point. The problem is that once somebody sees a person running around with one on the server EVERYONE wants their skin on the server. Also, you should probably be aware that many people like the fact that the SpaceMonster UT servers are "vanilla" and not all modded and mutated out. If there is a community-wide effort at making it easy for server ops to keep easily updated I'll be a whole lot more interested in it. People were doing cool things like skin paks for QW that made it easy to just unzip them into the right folder and off you went. They also took the time to try to not include 'cheat skins'. The issue is open for consideration but no decision has been made yet. Stay tuned...
-Rhomboid
I have made the decision to bring down the SpaceMonster Quake 2 JailBreak server. I know the server has a lot of friends and it's well known for being one of the last halfway decent Q2JB servers left on the net so I did not take the decision lightly. The simple fact is that I don't even have Quake 2 on my computer anymore and I haven't played JB in well over 4 or 5 months. This makes it very hard to continue supporting the mod especially with all the complaints I get on a regular basis about people using exploits in JB to crash the server and otherwise cause general misery.
I had waited for serveral months for the rumored "fixed" version(s) to show up but I'm starting to feel like it just ain't gonna happen. To all the great people I've met through running the server, my apologies if you are disappointed. Please understand that I need to focus my energies elsewhere.
There is the possibility that I may instead run a newer version of JB for another game such as Half-Life or Unreal Tournament JailBreak but I'm looking at a lot of different mods and games before I make a decision. I would like to run a version under active development where there is still bug fixing going on. The last few versions of JailBreak (in my opinion) have not been up to snuff. There were some great ideas and for a while I thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel but it dims with each new bug and exploit that pile up and each month passing without a fix.
I have no exact date for termination yet but it will probably go quietly one night in the near future. Thanks again for making the JailBreak server as popular as it has been. Servers ain't nuthin' without the players. =)
-Rhomboid
A quick bit-o-stuff:
I've set up a Roger Wilco server on SMGN. If you haven't heard about it check out at http://www.rogerwilco.com. In a nutshell, RW allows you to use a microphone with your PC sound card to chat in real time with other users connected to the same server. The protocol is small and fast and barely interferes with most online games as long as you're running a decently fast modem. It's a gas especially during team-oriented online games such as Team Fortress Classic or Unreal CTF or the like. You can stay in realtime communication with your teammates without having to stop and type. In the case of Deathmatch, you can dole out the verbal spankage with an outrageous French accent no less.
Once you get all the bits downloaded and installed point your Wilco at chatterbox.smgn.com. Enjoy...
Oh yeah, the llama would like to speak to J00 L337 d00d.
-Rhomboid
My monkey has entered the year 2000, along with the rest of me. Neat.
For my online New Year's Resolution I plan on actually updating my site even if i AM starting a month late, heh. Last July I just kind of gave up on it because we had some pretty grandiose plans on where things were going and they hadn't come together as planned. In addition, I went through a brief period of dealing with some industrial-strength wankers who were making running game servers not so much fun.
I dropped any kind of focused support for the Quake 2 Mod, Weapons Factory. I just really didn't like the way the game was going with each new version. Along with every new release was coming a whole new set of balance changes, whack-ass class modifications, and fun new server crash bugs. I waited over four months for the development team to scrape together a debug version of the server binary so I could actually troubleshoot the problem... it never came. I kept getting bounced between the members of the dev team and nothing ever came out of it. I saw other people having the same problems on the message forums and getting just as ignored as myself. Screw it, no support for me, no support for you d00ds. It is called a gaming community isn't it?
It's all better in the end though. I don't even want to play WF anymore. I feel that the quintessential version was right about somewhere within the WF 2.1 to 3.4 neighborhood, leaning to the former. I don't know WTF they're thinking with the way things started working in the 4.x series and beyond. WF has degenerated into a wank-spanking spamfest of bastard low-pingery. I mean, come on, if half the people in the game are playing sniper you might think sniper has a bit of an unfair advantage? Hmmm? The WF sniper is insane, you can be running full speed, jumping in midair, strafing sideways and STILL kill with one shot? Pass the fucking crackpipe...
I replaced that server (SpaceMonster WeaponsFactory) with a Team Fortress Classic server which has become easily just as popular as the WF server was (for a few months, SpaceMonster WeaponsFactory reigned supreme on the CLQ WF server list as the most popular WF server!) I decided to run maps in the vein of and inspired by the TFC map "Hunted" in which the object is for one player to get from a starting point to an end goal being defended by one team of players and hunted by another. Simple concept, FUN gameplay. I just didn't want to run another TFC server hosting endless games of the 2Fort variety and apparently there are a lot of people who seem to dig the idea =). Besides, if you really need 2fort, chances are it's running on a dozen servers out there right now.
The Hunted TFC server has brought back what I missed after all the llamas out there discovered WF (and joined the dev team, ;-) - a true server community with a tight-knit group of players who are regulars on the server and make it a better place to be by their actions and sense of fun and fair play. Don't get me wrong, we're starting to get slammed by llamas on a daily basis - in fact I'd even lean toward calling some of them weasels... <shudder> =) - but most visitors to SMGN Hunted-Only TFC are folk of the way-cool variety. (Special props to the Pfeffer homeys, Azrial, Amuck and the other regulars - I could go on but we all know who's who) A lot of the people will actually answer a question if you ask it, show you how to do something if you want to learn, and even give you a compliment for a frag-well-done. It's nice to play on and even run a server that isn't all-day "fuck you" and other creative phrase turning back and forth. It's not nonexistent but much less whining, pissing, and moaning goes on than when I was hosting WF. So, a big THANK YOU!!! to all the people who do what they do to make SMGN Hunted-Only TFC a fun place to go...
On a somewhat related note, I've started a bit of map editing again and actually plan on finally releasing something I've had my grubby hands in for the first time since the days of Duke Nukem 3D. I'll be releasing "Evac3" - a fairly heavy modification of the unfinished map "Evacuate" by Todd "Stagger" Alderman who now works for 2015 (of "Sin: Wages of Sin" fame.)
Todd was super cool about giving me the map source and letting me go with it. I've learned a lot more a lot faster than I ever did going through tutorial after tutorial at various game editing sites for the last year. Seeing a lot of the stuff working (and NOT working, heh) in a real map helps you to understand SO much more about map designing and editing. If you can find map sources and you want to learn, do it. Thanks again Todd, you ROCK!
Since my last update, Unreal Tournament (and something called Quake 3) has hit the market at long last. Naturally, I'm running 4 UT servers of the Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, and Assault varieties. The servers themselves were the victims of some pretty hefty upgrades about the same time. I'm now running Intel Processor Assisted Server NIC's in most of the servers. If you can afford the extra cash for these cards, get 'em - they frigging RULE! They have an onboard Intel i960 processor that offloads much of the network processing from the CPU to the NIC. Impressive shit... and it works too!
There are a lot of neat mods on the horizon for UT and I'm torn about which I'm going to run. In the running are: Rocket Arena (yeah!), Infiltration, and JailBreak. I'm hoping the RealCTF guys, Necrotic Software, have something in the works, I've seen some posts by mouse (RealCTF programmer) in some places that suggest it. So please don't scream at me if magically one day soon the UT Team DM server is all-of-a-sudden running Rocket Arena for UT. ;-)
We're actually really close to getting the new web design up finally. I'm hoping that this will be my last update to the old format. =)
Keep doing unto others...
-Rhomboid
