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Wanted: Engine hacking Guru to program a 'SkinBlind' effect

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OneManClan Joined: 28 Feb 2009 Posts: 62 |

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 5:46 am Post subject: Wanted: Engine hacking Guru to program a 'SkinBlind' effect |

Hi Guys, I've been stunned and surprised at the amazing talent on this forum; guys who it seems can do anything! And effortlessly!?! MauveBib has already coded two amazing creations (HolyChap, and the SmokeGrenade) which I am honoured to have featured in my weekly game [AD BREAK: Weekly AGR Session, every Sunday, 22:00 GMT, tastyspleen.net:26666, Q1 Custom TF Mania!!]... um, er ..where was I, ah yes, the request:
I have a request which I hesitate to ask for, because the CustomTF programmers have already referred to it as an 'annoying' hack, and refused to tackle it, because it also requires server coding, ie in C.
Here's the concept:
Whilst affected by the (hallucinogenic) Gas Grenade, affected players can't distinguish teammates from the enemy. They see all other players with the Quakeguy skin. The effect lessens in intensity as the gas wears off:

Code:
// SkinBlind pseudocode: if (gassed) { int seconds_on = 6; int seconds_off = 1;
while(effected by gas)
{
SkinBlind (seconds_on--); // player sees all skins as Quakeguys
SkinNormal (seconds_off++);
}
}

Apparantly this CAN'T be done in Quake C, in the .dat, because there's no way to make one player see a different set of skin to another player, and the only way to do this is with a server hack. I've been told that "there's basically nowhere in the code that deals specifically with updating skin and color changes on the server side." CustomTF runs on the server cpqwsv.exe, which can be downloaded here. I've had a look at sc_user.c (where I assume the SkinBlind code would go) and the fact is, I'm far too newbie to even dare *attempt* it.
Anyway, I don't know how long it would take a REAL programmer to code, but I've already been stunned at how easy some things are for a Guru, so I have no idea whether it would take minutes, hours, or days to code. I'm hoping that either:
1. The CustomTF guys are exaggerating, and it's not so tough.
2. There's an easier way, which no-ones yet thought of.
3. Maybe someone here WANTS a 'challenge'!!
4. (off the top of my head) I'm told that MVDSV can do this, but am assuming that 'porting' CustomTF to MVDSV is not an option... though being able to record entire games would be absolutely BRILLIANT!
So there it is. This is one of my last 'dream' changes to AGR CustomTF and hopefully, not as 'difficult' as I've been told. If there's anyone out there who wants to make the 'SkinBlind' effect a reality, that would be brilliant.
Thanks guys,
(fingers crossed!!)
OneManClan
ps. Bear in mind that, apart from Thunderwalker, AGR is the only Quake1 mod I know with organised matches, and an active, growing fanbase, so your work WILL appreciated by heaps of people every week, and your place in Quake history will be assured.
Last edited by OneManClan on Wed May 20, 2009 3:54 am; edited 5 times in total

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Spike Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 944 Location: UK |

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 11:35 am Post subject: |

quakeworld clients use the skin userinfo key to choose which skin to use on any given other player. And this can be faked via QC, without depending on any extensions. In fact its no less practical to do that in qc than than in c.

Code:
#define svc_setinfo 51 // setinfo on a client local entity e; local float n; msg_entity = self; while (n < 32)
{
n = n+1;
e = nextent(e);
if (e.classname == "") //only if the player is actually valid
continue;
if (e == self) //only if the other player is not ourself.
continue;
writebyte(MSG_ONE, svc_setinfo);
writebyte(MSG_ONE, n-1);
writestring(MSG_ONE, "skin");
if (self.isgassed) //I dunno what your code is like
writestring(MSG_ONE, "default");
else
writestring(MSG_ONE, ClassSkinForPlayer(e));
}

Note that if you're paranoid, you can clear out the team/bottomcolor/topcolor keys too.
Just make sure you don't spam this every frame - only send it when the player's gassed status changes.
Of course, this is binary state. There's no blending or anything going on, because that requires client changes, not server changes. With the right alpha values, and depth testing, it can be done with csqc just fine. But the majority of clients don't support that, so its really not useful to you at this time.
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OneManClan Joined: 28 Feb 2009 Posts: 62 |

Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 3:16 pm Post subject: |

[DISCLAIMER: I'm still a newbie programmer. Apologies in advance for potentially unbelievable ignorance of basic concepts] Hey Spike,

Spike wrote:
quakeworld clients use the skin userinfo key to choose which skin to use on any given other player. And this can be faked via QC, without depending on any extensions. In fact its no less practical to do that in qc than than in c.

In Custom Team Fortress, if you try to change your skin by typing "setinfo skin xxx' at the console, you get kicked from the game.
[EDIT: I started off thinkinh this was Quake C code below, but it's C, right? This is meant to go somewhere in the server code..?]

Code:
#define svc_setinfo 51 // setinfo on a client local entity e; local float n; /* presumably 'self' means the player, so.. since 'self' means something [i]else [/i]in the 'hallucination' part of spy.qc (where I assume this code belongs) , I have to replace 'self' with whatever entity contains the actual player, yes? */
msg_entity = self;
while (n < 32)
{
n = n+1;
e = nextent(e);
// ''"? why not -> if (e.classname == "player") ??
if (e.classname == "") //only if the player is actually valid
// 'continue' ? Is this Quake C or C? :?
continue;
if (e == self) //only if the other player is not ourself.
continue;
writebyte(MSG_ONE, svc_setinfo);
/* my Quake C compiler didn't like 'n-1' so I substituted another variable which had the value of (n-1). Again, it's possible I misunderstood, and this is Server Code were talking about. */
writebyte(MSG_ONE, n-1);
// by 'skin' do you mean the actual string 'skin' or should I substitute the 'quakeguy' skin here?
writestring(MSG_ONE, "skin");
// I replaced the following line with
// if (te.tfstate & #TFSTATE_HALLUCINATING)
// where 'te' is the player entity who is gassed.
if (self.isgassed) //I dunno what your code is like
writestring(MSG_ONE, "default");
else
// Sending a function as a string? This must be C.
// U did a search and can't find a reference to this function.
// There is a:
// void(entity p) TeamFortress_SetSkin;
// in Quake C, but it cant be sent as a variable.
writestring(MSG_ONE, ClassSkinForPlayer(e));
}

Spike wrote:
Note that if you're paranoid, you can clear out the team/bottomcolor/topcolor keys too.

You mean because the Quakeguy can have those colors, yes. I'd like him to be a standard Quakeguy with no colors... how?

Spike wrote:
Just make sure you don't spam this every frame - only send it when the player's gassed status changes.

Cool.
Now, I have NO idea what the following sentence means.

Spike wrote:
Of course, this is binary state. There's no blending or anything going on, because that requires client changes, not server changes. With the right alpha values, and depth testing, it can be done with csqc just fine. But the majority of clients don't support that, so its really not useful to you at this time.

binary state?
blending?
alpha values?
depth testing?
(If these aren't relevant to the task at hand, then you don't have to explain these terms - unless you feel like it)
I'll forward your code to those less newbie than me, unless there's something obvious I've missed, in which I'd love to do this myself, especially if as you say, it doesn't require a server hack.
thanks,
OneManClan

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OneManClan Joined: 28 Feb 2009 Posts: 62 |

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:16 am Post subject: |

I moved my follow-up post to the QuakeC Programming section as it's not really relevant to 'Engine Programming'

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