[TvT/FFA/CO-40] Dynamic Zombie Sandbox

[stk2008 14]

Hey guys,

I'm still working on this of course. With the help of [TAW] Tonic, we made it so zombies stop walking through barriers placed by clients. (We send the position placed by the player to the server and the server replaces the objects, so the server's zombies can see the objects)

Also I've started work on a completely new spawning system, not at all like the one Celery has in place. It may fix a lot of performance issues of all past versions. I'm testing on the official dedicated now.

---------- Post added at 10:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 PM ----------

Err scratch that, defcon server's "Update to 1.62" is broke, for now.

Holy crap prevented Zeds walking through objects this is fantastic news building bases is now worth it you are the man thanks so much :)

[Spam_One 1]

Awesome ! If new zombies spawn are ok, can't wait for playing, building base and fighting zombies !

ETA on this ?

For feedback, support and bug report, where do you prefer ? DevHeaven, twitter, here ?

[SavageCore 1]

Wow this looks awesome, will try :)

[Craig_VG 20]

Any plans to allow players to clear cities? Kill enough zombie to stop them respawning inside a certain city or zone.

Definitely a possibility, and something that I could do. Currently, however, performance is #1 priority.

Holy crap prevented Zeds walking through objects this is fantastic news building bases is now worth it you are the man thanks so much :)

It is step forward indeed. And Tonic did most of the scripting for it, so thank him. :D

Awesome ! If new zombies spawn are ok, can't wait for playing, building base and fighting zombies !

ETA on this ?

For feedback, support and bug report, where do you prefer ? DevHeaven, twitter, here ?

ETA?

Now: http://bit.ly/1-05Testing

Zombies are now controlled by the clients themselves. The server should be freed up. As a client expect the occasional micro-stutter, which may get worse. I am working to tone it down a bit.

My Dedi is currently running it. Just search "Dynamic Zombie Sandbox Official" in host, or just filter Dynamic Zombie Sandbox in mission.

Thanks,

Craig

---------- Post added at 08:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 PM ----------

Also, just so you guys are aware. To turn on the new spawning system, select it in the zombie spawning options in parameters. It isn't automatically on.

---------- Post added at 09:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 PM ----------

And one more thing. The zombie spawning is now done via FSM (Finite State Machine) which greatly increases performance on that front, and eliminates the microstutter mentioned earlier.

[stk2008 14]

Wow this is going to be sweet I am going to test this tonight for sure thanks

[Spam_One 1]

Ahahahah, i tested it without the new spawning system on my dedicated so (i launched and gone sleep just after).

One thing : Zombies spawn are very little after hours, like before, or zombies spawns and don't move. But the fps drop apparently disappear for everyone.

So, i launch this again with the new spawn... :D

[sKum 1]

I've been running this Dynamic Zombie Sandbox mod for a few days now on my server thumbs up for the creator of the mod alot of people enjoy it.

-----------------------

since patch 1.62 everyone on my server seems to get major fps loss, seems fixed for now with the v1.05

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bugs:

I noticed if you select the option for car types to "all" you get all cars but their damage is red on each car even if you set the parameters of car quality to good or non-damaged.

Sometimes a player spawns as a bird he will than have to reconnect for a period 15 minuts and change to another character/class before becoming normal again.

Random megakills, kills all players and zombies at the same time no idea whats causing that.

Shared deaths if a player dies some other player dies along with him.

Zombies still walk through placed objects and walls.

-----------------------

New Ideas:

- Saved progress for players if they disconnect and log back in they spawn at the same position and keep theire gear.

- Saved progress server side if you need to shut down your server for an update you can continue were you left off.

- Block people from spawning vehicles using 3rd party editors which is pretty lame.

Anyway keep up the good work I hope to see a fix for the problems I mentioned

Edited July 27, 2012 by sKum

[Spam_One 1]

I just launch it with the new spawn system and i have no problem for my part, on a 15 players dedicated server.

Zombies are always here, it's a fact. Base build makes sens now. It apparently continue to spawn everytime.

What i suggest : include some random pause in zombies spawns. I'm very happy to have lot of zombies everytime, after so many plays where zombies stopped to spawn, but in fact, for gameplay, constant spawning isn't good for a lot of gameplay things : don't have the time to load things in vehicules 95% of the time, don't have the time to move object for base build, don't have the time to go away with vehicule before zombies hit it, never have the time to bandage, etc. And this, with only 20 zombies per km :D

I will try this on my server :

-10 zombies per km

-aggro radius 150m

It should randomize enough the zombies wave (if these parameters always work with new system indeed)

Anyway, great job Craig, everybodies are happy of this new test version, players and hosters ;)

Edited July 26, 2012 by Spam_One

[Spam_One 1]

Opinions from players since 1.05 :

-No way to repair vehicle. They suggest adding sidemissions with random convoy with repair trucks and refuel trucks

-Zombies damages are really to high on vehicle.

-Sometimes, we have to restart the mission because everybody spawn in water. It's more frequent when the server is full or near.

-Random pause between waves of zombies spawns.

-New spawn system is very good, but try to find a way to hide zombies spawns.

-Corpses of zombies and dead players still not disappear when they have loot on themselves.

-Sometimes, sidemissions don't work, there's the red grid but nothing in it.

-NVG bug still here : we don't have it in the gear after the first death.

-For persistant battlefield, do you think you can enable loot respawn, for guns and vehicles ?

-How about adding officialy helicopter and other stuff (by sidemission maybe ?)

-There's some open buildings which never have loot.

-What about more slots for every sides and factions and let the host limit himself the number of players

-Need a way to slow down zombies when they get hitted (1/3 chance to go prone and get up again when get hitted ?)

-Zombies back in fields and forest

-A script which detect when a base is build and send (i.e : minimum an ammo crate and 10 props in a 30m radius) and send sometimes and randomly an horde on it when players stay in this radius ?

-A special tent (random spawn with others props (maybe customisable in parameters ?) which create a spawn point on the map for those who chose it ? (the tent is moveable only by the one who found it)

-More camps and homemade construction who improve the post-apo mood (i.e : 50 camps create on the map : 15 chosen randomly at mission launch)

-And as usual, you know it, reconnect at same location.

Everybody love it !

Hope you have time to read this and give us some informations.

Thanks Craig.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Spam_One

[Spam_One 1]

After more than 10 hours that the mission is on, we spawn again in sea. I changed spawn to "with another players" to test if it's ok.

New ideas from community :

- Headshot counter

- If respawn "with another players" was chosen, use differents towns for each factions

I edit with more opinions if i have.

For the development, a lot of players likes to follow mod dev, what are you working on, what do you think about this or that, what kind of problems you may encouter etc... what is the best to follow you ?

Edit : no problem after 6 hours with spawn type : "with other players".

Only problem is too much dead bodies with loots that nobodies want when they spawn with weapons.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Spam_One

[stk2008 14]

hi there got to play via me dedi pc and

1- with new spawn system zeds just spawn infront of ya even though its sets to max spawn distance please fix this one I hate it when they spawn up your ass :(

2- i know ACE version aint ready yet but its bugged to hell with ace it use to work not to bad before now I cant deply weapon I get major lag and stutter when I try to do so I cant put any thing on me back nor use backpacks that I find

[Craig_VG 20]

hi there got to play via me dedi pc and

1- with new spawn system zeds just spawn infront of ya even though its sets to max spawn distance please fix this one I hate it when they spawn up your ass :(

2- i know ACE version aint ready yet but its bugged to hell with ace it use to work not to bad before now I cant deply weapon I get major lag and stutter when I try to do so I cant put any thing on me back nor use backpacks that I find

1. It isn't finished yet, still being worked on. Don't worry yet.

2. I haven't tried it with ACE, so I wouldn't know :/

Expect an improved version today.

Edited July 28, 2012 by bobtom

[Craig_VG 20]

Okay, next beta update for the upcoming 1.05 release!

Some fixes:

Zombies with bandages now delete eventually (the time before deleting needs some tweaking, though)

Zombies should spawn better now (not right on top of you) But if you still have issues with them spawning close, just say on the forums.

Players won't end up being sent to 0,0 randomly anymore, there was a small syntax error.

On respawn, the player won't lose their NV goggles anymore

Dedicated was running code meant for clients, fixed

Cleaned up zombie spawning function

Zombies were getting deleted far to easily, leaving many bodies laying around. This has been adjusted, and a more efficient method of killing off the stray zombies was added.

Updated the zombie spawn FSM some more

Here is the link:

http://bit.ly/1-05Testing

Enjoy,

Craig

[sKum 1]

Yes those dead bodies that keep laying on the floor defenatly cause problems,

also is there any way to prevent people to use that damn editor in mp games because

they keep spawning helicopters, they send hundreds of artillery explosions to destroy someones base

there should be a solution right as they never seem to use that 3rd party exploits in other mods

[Craig_VG 20]

Yes those dead bodies that keep laying on the floor defenatly cause problems,

also is there any way to prevent people to use that damn editor in mp games because

they keep spawning helicopters, they send hundreds of artillery explosions to destroy someones base up

there should be a solution right as they never seem to use that 3rd party exploits in other mods

Yes of course they do. Just remember its a beta version, so issues like that are to be expected.

Preventing people from using lost key is dependent on the server host. Some allow 3rd party addons and some don't, but I can't control that.

Have a good one,

Craig

[sKum 1]

Okay I'll apply the newest 1.05 test to my server thanks for the body fix, any idea how I ask my host if they allow 3rd party addons or not?

Because yesterday 25 people were on my server at the same time and we build one massive base and it got blown up by this lost key user

thats a bit frustrating.

[Spam_One 1]

Thanks Craig, i put that on my dedicated.

@sKum : i passworded my dedicated today because of that : this is the best mod ever, but peoples are just assholes, the ratio in the world seems to be 20% normal 20% idiot 60% assholes.

Yesterday, one time, we play at 10, making convoys and building a safe zone at spawn (i put spawn "with other players" so only one spawn place), fighting zombies and looting bases, and 2 hours after, some guys changed their minds, beginning to take everything in safe zone, putting it in our bus, and go away with it, to build a base at firestation at cherno (they were certainly too lazy to take stuffs in cherno...).

Another play, we build a base between Polana and Orlovets (great place, good mood), for like 4 hours, doing objectives and all, just when i disconnect, my friend on mumble says "it's raining choppers and planes". With the explosions, all the base was destroyed.

I just put a fucking password and play with guys from the forum that I frequent. Too bad for others :(

About the mod, more and more peoples like it on my forum, as you say craig, your work is well spent. The plays are so fun.

Always looking for new stuff :)

Edit : had to go back on version before

Bug : bad performance issue with this version

Seems to be an old bug we always had before on 1.0, bad fps issue after some times, but this time more quickly, and no problem when disconnect/reconnect

- players blocked at loading sometimes

- spawn as a crow

- r3f is veryyyyyyyyy long just after 10 minutes of game

Edited July 28, 2012 by Spam_One

[Craig_VG 20]

Okay I'll apply the newest 1.05 test to my server thanks for the body fix, any idea how I ask my host if they allow 3rd party addons or not?

Because yesterday 25 people were on my server at the same time and we build one massive base and it got blown up by this lost key user

thats a bit frustrating.

BattlEye=1;

verifySignatures = 2;

Put it in your server.cfg

Equalmodrequired = 1 works too, but the biki say's its depreciated.

@spam_one

Ill look into your lag issues with the new version. It may be a matter of tweaking.

[sKum 1]

BattlEye=1;

verifySignatures = 2;

Put it in your server.cfg

Equalmodrequired = 1 works too, but the biki say's its depreciated.

Allrighty I already entered that in my server.cfg this morning after I found out these problems with equalmodreq = 1 the hard way ^^

Do I need to make a key and signature also for the pbo? or will verifysignatures = 2 cover for that?

I read you could also enter some strings in battleye that filterout scriptcodes that are used to spawn vehicles or teleport and godmode

and kick the player auto.

Another question do you know if its possible to run custom island maps with dynamic zombies? I tried it works for me but not for the other players

they start in an empty zone so im guessing they cant play or download it from the server unless they download the map from the official website

greets thanks for the advice

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:20 ----------

Thanks Craig, i put that on my dedicated.

@sKum : i passworded my dedicated today because of that : this is the best mod ever, but peoples are just assholes, the ratio in the world seems to be 20% normal 20% idiot 60% assholes.

Yesterday, one time, we play at 10, making convoys and building a safe zone at spawn (i put spawn "with other players" so only one spawn place), fighting zombies and looting bases, and 2 hours after, some guys changed their minds, beginning to take everything in safe zone, putting it in our bus, and go away with it, to build a base at firestation at cherno (they were certainly too lazy to take stuffs in cherno...).

Another play, we build a base between Polana and Orlovets (great place, good mood), for like 4 hours, doing objectives and all, just when i disconnect, my friend on mumble says "it's raining choppers and planes". With the explosions, all the base was destroyed.

I just put a fucking password and play with guys from the forum that I frequent. Too bad for others :(

About the mod, more and more peoples like it on my forum, as you say craig, your work is well spent. The plays are so fun.

Always looking for new stuff :)

Yes i know the feeling yesterday we played with 20 people and we build up a huge base and all of a sudden it exploded and the round before we had a base in some red zone army location and everything despawned, even my truck lol I put off friendly fire because to many people are running around spawn zones, but there are ways you can block cheaters from using that editor lokis lost key Ive been researching this issue for 8 houres today to find how to fix that

Once I had a base on the airfield and I was pvp'ing with some friends and I placed a marked on the beginning of the airfield with BASE :d but we were sitting on the otherside and some cheater tought he was smart and bombed at the marker for 10minuts and missed our base by couple meters ^^ I kicked them after

Edited July 28, 2012 by sKum

[Spam_One 1]

2nd test with 1.05 v2,

Spawn as a crow,

Sidemissions doesn't launch,

bad fps (at first spawn, 45 fps in fields far from everything instead of 70/80 usually).

[sKum 1]

Okay I went back to the previous version of 1.05 its better then the newer one, the corner spawn bug is still active in both versions after 30 minuts of playing in zargabad people spawn in the middle of the desert and start moaning for restarts and disconnect the mod is getting famous my server is populated most of the day, today I even had 28 players playing on it at the same time. I get nice feedback people saying they like the mod. But they want fixes for the spawn just passing the message.

server statistics of last week:

http://arma2.swec.se/server/data/275390

wanted to name my server sKum's Server New Zombie Sandbox v1.051 =Fixed Bugs= [ARMA v1.62]

but it was a bit to long so I named it sKum's New Zombie Sandbox v1.051 =Fixed Bugs= [ARMA v1.62]

I hope you dont mind? I dont want to discredit you

Edited July 29, 2012 by sKum

[Craig_VG 20]

Here take this new version. I've changed all the zombie scripts over to .FSM format. Works very well on my server:

http://bit.ly/1-05Testing

---------- Post added at 05:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------

Muahahaha.. over 4000 zombies killed on my server in 2 days. :D

[tonic-_- 53]

Here take this new version. I've changed all the zombie scripts over to .FSM format. Works very well on my server:

http://bit.ly/1-05Testing

---------- Post added at 05:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------

Muahahaha.. over 4000 zombies killed on my server in 2 days. :D

Your mom works very well in two days?

Oh wait I read that wrong :D

Anywho Sinor Craig, do we have plans to add ACR Content? Even maybe flooding sections of the map? ;) Suppose i'll catch you on teamspeak sometime this week.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Tonic-_-

[Craig_VG 20]

I was going through the missions_acr.pbo yesterday, might just have to add it, just for kicks and the novelty of it. :D

[sKum 1]

Can you make me a dynamic zombie sandbox dedicated for zargabad pvp'ing, were players can only spawn in zargabad the main city

(instead of spawning off the map and in the middle of nowhere) that would be awesome