***UPDATED 06/24/07

The Fusion CTF Server is now standard CTF, without the grapple and special settings that were used by Herforst.



***UPDATED SETTINGS - 11/14

Less than a week ago, I setup my first Nexuiz server to provide an alternative to Herforst offering while different maps and allow North American players to enjoy lower pings (for a change ) as the server is located in Florida in the U.S.

The new server seems to be working well. Right now there are 12 people (the current max) connected and the CPU utilization jumps around from 9-16% and memory utilization is about 22%. I think I may bump max users to 14 or 16. I'm not sure yet. I really think some of the maps are lacking enough weapon spawns to handle too many more players.

Right now, the maps include...

CTF GreatWall (new version 3)
Facing Worlds (original)
Control Factor (new version 2)
Facing Worlds (new version)
CaptureCity

***REMOVED*** BlueAmuse (new version 69) - Beautiful map but doesn't work for CTF. Too many hiding places.

This map list may change at any time.

Grapple is turned on.
anti-lag is turned off.
gravity is 500 (like Herforst)
starting health is 175 (normal is 150)
default health is 110 (normal is 100)
sv_wallfriction is at 0.5 (normal is 1.0)
Voting is turned on
Current voting commands allowed are

restart
timelimit
fraglimit
chmap

balance teams now off during game play. It wasn't working because it treats spectators as members of a team.

I will likely setup be a second Nexiuz server for experimenting with settings and strange maps. I'll announce when that is setup in case you want to check it out.

I think turning the balance team off is better. I often switch between teams in Herforst and I love that option to do so. IMO that command is not to balance teams, it's more unbalance teams.

Hmm i hope i do not mix things up but it should be possible to have both.
When g_balance_teams is 1 then you should be put in some team when you join. And as long as g_balance_teams_force is 0 (the default) then you should be able to switch teams at any time in the game.

I currently have both enabled....and I guess the second one (g_balance_teams_force) doesn't really work very well.

It seems as though the people who are spectating are counted as part of a team. So if there are 6 v 6 and the blue players only have 3 active players with the other three being spectators, it won't let you switch from red to blue.

I'll have to disable that option.

I'd like to ask you to remove the beta of Facing worlds from the mappol. Thx

That's the beta? I didn't know that! Sorry bout that.
I will remove it later tonight when I get home.

Where is the final located? Or is the final out yet?
What version is Herforst using?

Heer you can find the final release: http://www.forums.alientrap.local/viewtopic.php?t=911

Also, I suggest you to lower back the gravity to normal. I hate playing like on the moon

I will update the map later tonight. Thank you.

I might be willing to do special settings for certain maps, but not for all maps. I like the gravity setting at 500. People enjoy it on Herforst as well. But I can see how more "normal" gravity could work better for certain maps, not to mention other settings.

Hopefully, after some more configuration, there will be enough "flavor" in the map list to appease the majority of visitors to the server.

um, I don't get it.
That was where I got the map in the first place, from the "final" thread.
I just downloaded again (in case I'm overlooking something) and placed the new file on the server...and it seems like the same map, and it didn't make me download the map when the game started.

How can you tell if it's the beta version or final?

Dokujisan wrote:

Facing Worlds (original)
Facing Worlds (new version)

Quote from you from the first post. What do you mean under original, and new version?

original = one we've been playing for a while now
new version = one you just released recently

Well maybe the first release was taken as the original..
All the facingworld maps by brutail are the same just each release got more and more refined and with more details. Right now i have 5 different versions of the map on my computer. (map-ctf_facing_worlds_nex.pk3 map-ctf_facing_worlds_nex_rc2.pk3 map-ctf_nexface_b2.pk3 map-facing_worlds_nex_beta1k.pk3 map-facing_worlds_nex_beta999.pk3)
The first and all the others up to the latest versions were beta versions just that people could see whats happening and give advices on how to make it better. As the latest version runs really bad on my computer i have nothing against a server with an older version )) but your has too high ping for me

ok, I found out what you are talking about...
map-facing_worlds_nex_beta1k.pk3

I'm trying to find where I downloaded that. I understood it to be the version that was played on Herforst before you released your recent "final". Everyone seems to like that one the best.

I've heard many people say that the latest version doesn't play as well as the "original" and lags badly in places. I'd like to add my vote to retaining the older version as well.

I think it's a good idea to have the maps "Great Wall" and "Control Factor" on the list.
Especially for servers that have a high max. #players setting.
The worst thing about Herforst was "Egg and Bacon" with 20 people and the
grappling hook. Not to mention that having the grappling hook in CTF sucks
in general, it especially sucks on this map.

In contrast to what most people here might think, I also consider CaptureCity
with grappling hook boring, as it takes away the whole point of the map.
The flag should be hard to reach and the Nex should only be reached by
slowly climbing the facade making you an easy target.

Oh yes, and like most other people I think the standard gravity is better.

I agree 100% with zwerg

Not to mention that having the grappling hook in CTF sucks
in general, it especially sucks on this map.

Well, I respect your opinion, but there are obviously a lot of people that disagree with you. There are a lot of people that enjoy the grappling hook on Herforst and Fusion CTF servers.

I, personally, can appreciate both forms of gameplay, but it does depend a lot on the map design. I have played with and without the grapple. I enjoyed no-grapple on the runningman map, for example. Personally, I think maps with large open spaces that include the Nex (sniper) gun are lame if they don't have the grapple. IMO, maps such as Facing worlds and CaptureCity are not as good without the grapple because it is more difficult to get to people that sit in sniper positions. Thus, those who sit and snipe (some people call it camping, but I generally don't have a problem with it) have a large advantage. This is why no-grapple is fine in maps like runningman where there aren't huge open spaces with the Nex.

I would certainly be open to having no-grapple on certain maps that are designed well for no-grapple play. I wouldn't mind having a mix of different configs for different maps. Or, I may just setup a separate server.

I don't know if there are enough Nexuiz players overall to support too many servers. A lot of servers typically have 2-3 players trying to get a game going. Nexuiz CTF doesn't start getting fun until you have 3 vs 3 or higher numbers

Oh yes, and like most other people I think the standard gravity is better.

I'm not sure who these "most other people" are, but I originally had default gravity on my server for a few days and people didn't like it. In fact, many of the users specifically said that it should be like Herforst, which has 500 gravity.

The reason? It really limits some of the things that you can do with the grappling hook.

The downside. It makes movement on the ground really strange, because every time you jump, sure you jump higher, but it feels like you are hovering in place like a sitting duck.

Now, I did see some grapple-specific settings on the server settings page, but I wasn't sure what they did. It may be possible to configure the grapple settings to make it more usable for default gravity settings. I agree that default gravity (or higher gravity than 500) works better for ground-fighting, so you don't feel like you are hovering every time you jump.

[random hook ramblings]
I think the hook i a nice feture, and fun to play with sometimes. The bad things is: It makes some maps (like cap city) way to easy to navigate. It seems to have a nagivive effect on teamplay, most seem bzy playing tarzan.

Another "ill effect" is all the ppl crying for the hook to get enabled on all other servers. My guess is some ppl just got so used to, or perhaps started playing the game with this hook and just dont know how to effectivly move arround w/o it.
[/random hook ramblings]

The "hoovering" effect may be "fixable" by adjusting the phisics cvars a quick try i came up with:

Code: Select all

sv_airaccel_qw 0.9
sv_airaccel_sideways_friction 0.25
av_airaccelerate 7
sv_friction 6


makes it feel a bit less zero-g like, can surely be improved more with some experimenting.

Dokujisan wrote:

Oh yes, and like most other people I think the standard gravity is better.

I'm not sure who these "most other people" are, but I originally had default gravity on my server for a few days and people didn't like it. In fact, many of the users specifically said that it should be like Herforst, which has 500 gravity.

But the question is: Do people prefer the hook and 500 gravity because
they actually think it's better or because they are used to Herforst settings?
To be honest I am happy that since Herforst has gone offline for a
while, other CTF servers like [RBI] also reach the max. # players...
which makes me think: Is Herforst popular because of its settings or
is it just group dynamics?

After all, the settings are up to you. If the Nexuiz community likes CTF with
the hook and low gravity then that's how it should be. About the "most other
people"... Well, most servers I play on (not only CTF servers but also the other
game types) have standard gravity and people seem to like it.

RBI reaches the max about every day...

however, I am currently trying something out: maxplayers is increased from 12 to 16 now. Let's see if that is a good or a bad idea...

Nexuiz IS configurable on purpose and its nice to see people actually use this to create diversity. This can only help spread Nexuiz as there are different servers for different people. If you like low gravity and hook use Herforst or Fusion.
I really enjoy games on herforst but i like servers like RBI or Greens more because it has default settings. That makes it more possible to get a feel for the game and for me it will also create more interesting matches. This is just a personal thing and i'm sorry if i made it sound different in the past. I consider myself a decent player thus i seek challenges. Having the hook makes it too easy on MOST maps to get around, to collect stuff and to avoid being seen. Especially on the map Facing worlds one can get stacked and tarzan around the map to arrive fully stacked at the other base. I did write the CTF guide in the game play forum because i think team play is a very important aspect and because i like to share what i learned fro playing. But when you can arrive at the enemy base without team play CTF gets turned into 'attacking fully stacked and hoping you can outgun the defenders'. That is the reason why i do not like the hook on maps that were not designed for it and i think non of the Nexuiz CTF maps is .
I know other people have other needs and YES there is need for 'easier' servers. Its also clear that both sides demand servers to be put up in their likening but people have to understand that there should be a certain balance between servers using default and non default settings. Right now this seems to be the case though i think there is no default CTF server in the US? There are enough players (both herforst and rbi getting full very often) that demand both kind of servers so give it to them but please try not to destroy that balance. If in doubt go with default settings first as that is the way this game was intended to be played .

Well i do not want to comment on having the hook on eggandbacon because just thinking about this makes my brain hurt.. I'm beginning to think that its a bad idea to just activate the hook in the global config. Its a bit more work but custom mapcfg files seem to be a very very good way for this kind of thing. Those mapcfg files can even be made plug-and-play like.

I do not have time right now for thinking deeply about it but could work like this:

tl20fl0.mapcfg wrote:set timelimit_backup $timelimit
set fraglimit_backup $fraglimit
set fraglimit 0
set timelimit 20

tl15fl0.mapcfg wrote:set timelimit_backup $timelimit
set fraglimit_backup $fraglimit
set fraglimit 0
set timelimit 15

tl10fl0.mapcfg wrote:set timelimit_backup $timelimit
set fraglimit_backup $fraglimit
set fraglimit 0
set timelimit 10

tl10fl500.mapcfg wrote:set timelimit_backup $timelimit
set fraglimit_backup $fraglimit
set fraglimit 500
set timelimit 10

tlflrestore.mapcfg wrote:set timelimit $timelimit_backup
set fraglimit $fraglimit_backup

gravlow.mapcfg wrote:set sv_gravity_backup $sv_gravity
set sv_gravity 500

gravhigh.mapcfg wrote:set sv_gravity_backup $sv_gravity
set sv_gravity 800

gravrestore.mapcfg wrote:set sv_gravity $sv_gravity_backup

hookon.mapcfg wrote:set g_grappling_hook_backup $g_grappling_hook
set g_grappling_hook 1

hookoff.mapcfg wrote:set g_grappling_hook_backup $g_grappling_hook
set g_grappling_hook 0

hookrestore.mapcfg wrote:set g_grappling_hook $g_grappling_hook_backup

Add more things like above and then all you need is to plug it together like this:

leetfachingworlds.mapcfg wrote:set exit_cfg maps/leetfachingworlds_exit.cfg
exec maps/tl10fl500.mapcfg
exec maps/hookon.mapcfg

set g_ctf 1
changelevel facing_worlds_nex

leetfachingworlds_exit.cfg wrote:exec maps/tlflrestore.mapcfg
exec maps/hookrestore.mapcfg

Someone else wants longer matches without the hook and does this:

longfacingworlds.mapcfg wrote:set exit_cfg maps/longfacingworlds_exit.cfg
exec maps/tl20fl0.mapcfg
exec maps/hookoff.mapcfg

set g_ctf 1
changelevel facing_worlds_nex

longfacingworlds_exit.cfg wrote:exec maps/tlflrestore.mapcfg
exec maps/hookrestore.mapcfg

Someone else wants the server settings but low grav on controlfactor::

control.mapcfg wrote:set exit_cfg maps/control_exit.cfg
exec maps/gravlow.mapcfg

set g_ctf 1
changelevel controlfactor_v2r2

control_exit.cfg wrote:exec maps/gravrestore.mapcfg

All you have to do then is to create a XX.mapcfg and XX_exit.mapcfg pair with each having the matching execs and of course to put the mapcfg name into your g_maplist to play it..

If this does work fine one could even change the nexuiz default mapcfg files to use something like this. One could use files like tlfl(CTF,DM,TDM,RUNE,DOM...).mapcfg that exec a file tlfl.mapcfg and set the default frag and timelimit there. If the server admin wants to change the global time or fraglimit he would just change that file or if he wants to use other defaults for some modes he could change those files instead.
I think this would make quite a few lines of code unneeded..
I'm not sure if this is too complicated?

Well, most servers I play on (not only CTF servers but also the other
game types) have standard gravity and people seem to like it.

I understand. I would say the major reason for wanting lower gravity is specifically due to the effects on the grappling hook. If you're not a fan of the grapple, then I can easily see how the benefits of lower gravity are not evident.

I'll try out some of the ideas presented by esteel and I'll try to learn a bit more about the grapple settings to see if I can improve the grapple without requiring 500 gravity.

I am also interested in "low gravity" and "jumpmatch" like settings (similar to UT), although I know they will not work on every map. Perhaps I will add some "low gravity" settings maps to the map cycle on my server... could be fun on mentalspace for example.

In UT, low gravity was - well, low gravity, and jumpmatch was higher jumps at the same gravity as usual.

What I would especially like to know is if any of you have already tuned "low gravity" so that it does not feel like hovering, that is, with also adjusted movement settings. The rest probably is rather straightforward...

i'd like to see more servers with just normal CTF....get annoyed with gravity on every single time.

normal CTF is CTF without gravity? No, sv_gravity 0 doesn't work in Nexuiz...

Hey...
My laptop was broken for a while but I finally found the time to break it apart and solder the power plug. So I can now play Nexuiz again. Yay! It's been a couple months, I think.

Anyway, The Fusion CTF and Tactical servers were still using version 2.0.
I am now changing those to 2.2.2. But I don't see a server-linux.sh. So how do I start the Nexuiz server for Linux?

I also have seen some updated maps and some new maps. I'll try to update those soon on the two servers that I'm hosting.

Dokujisan wrote:I am now changing those to 2.2.2. But I don't see a server-linux.sh. So how do I start the Nexuiz server for Linux?

Have a look at the Docs/server directory, there are example start scripts and a template for a server.cfg.

Fusion CTF server has been pretty popular over the past week or so, now that some problems have been worked out. That's great to see. I'm glad to provide a solid (or semi-solid) CTF server for north american players.

It is running on a dedicated server, but the webhost isn't really the best. I'm hoping to get a higher end server from a better webhost in the coming weeks or months.

Re; Maps :
I'll be trying out a couple more maps, and I'll probably take off the lava ctf.

I'll also turn off random map selection.

I'm going to probably drop the number of players to 12 from 16 because some of the maps are causing the server to lag.

I'll post updates on this thread.

Dokujisan wrote:I'll be trying out a couple more maps, and I'll probably take off the lava ctf.
I'm going to probably drop the number of players to 12 from 16 because some of the maps are causing the server to lag.

which lavectf? Lavaflag? I actually think its a nice ctf map. Simple layout but it can be real fun to play it!