Title : HexMatch for Hexen II Version 1.11 servers Filename : hm1_111.zip Version : 1.1 Date : 11/11/97 (11th of November '97) Author : Phayyde Email : phayyde@hexenworld.com Credit : Phoebus, ::gloom::, Catalyst, Satanic, Rotwang, Bakshra and everyone else I'm forgetting at Hexenworld. For those about to frag - I salute you! Thomas Harris and Ben Brown for letting me use hexen.netdoor.com as a test server. Thanks, you guys. This thing would absolutely not work if it weren't for you. Everyone is encouraged to get an account with Internet Doorway ASAP. Keith Rice - This guy runs Gaf Central(24.0.185.80), maybe I've seen you there? He discovered the infinite explosion bug in HexMatch 1.0 for Hexen II 1.11. Thank you Keith! John K. Manning - AKA Jeth'ro for suggesting a fix to the Tomed Meteor staff Xibalba - For golden advice and moral support. All you guys slugging it out on the HexenII servers. Rock! and of course, Raven Software For all the hard work and diligent maintenance! This all belongs to Raven. I am nothing. You guys rule. Rick, MikeG, MikeW, Eric, this means YOU. and id Software For Quake. Thank you for your contributions. Type of Mod ----------- HexenC : yes Sound : no MDL : no Format of HexenC ---------------- unified diff : no context diff : no .hc files : yes progs.dat : yes Description of the Modification ------------------------------- HexMatch was created to make Hexen II a valid deathmatch medium. This is accomplished through Lag reduction and Cheat elimination. HexMatch version 1.0, when installed on a server, disallows all cheats thus far discovered in Hexen II deathmatch. HexMatch also provides significantly better performance over unmodified 1.11 servers. This lag reduction is accomplished by reducing the number of models created by typical weapon usage. Other minor optimizations which are evident in the code also help. Raven, with the 1.11 release, also made many optimizations to the network code. If you like HexMatch, thank the Raven guys, too. Finally, HexMatch relieves the burden of problem users who suicide-flood(rapid, repeated "kill"s) or sheep-flood(rapid, repeated "impulse 14"s) the server. These bozos are first warned, then kicked if they continue offending. Disallowed Cheats: * Sheep munching for Exp * Summoned Imp fragging for Exp This needs explanation. You see, Raven addressed this in 1.11. But they only addressed the first part of the problem. It turn out that when an Imp Lord is gibbed, he leaves behind a gib head. This gib head will award ungodly Exp to the lucky fool who gibs it. This includes the Imp Lord owner. So, I fixed it such that the gib head "knows" who owned the ImpLord it used to belong to. If that guy gibs the head, he won't get nuffin'. Others will still get the normal exp. Am I making any sense? Try it, you'll see. Lag Optimizations: * Bone Shard (Tomed and Untomed) - number of models reduced * Grenades (Tomed) - number of explosions reduced * Purifier (Untomed) - rate of fire slowed * Ice Mace (Untomed) - rate of fire slowed and shatter shards reduced * Meteor Staff (Tomed) - fewer meteors created Miscellaneous changes: * Raven Staff slightly more damaging and usable while running * Suicide flooders kicked on eighth attempt * Sheep flooders kicked on fifteenth attempt This is a server-only mod. No changes to the client are necessary. How to Install the Modification ------------------------------- I've included the progs.dat and copies of the modified HC files. To use the progs.dat, go to your HexenII base directory. Make a subdirectory and call it what you will. Try "HexMatch", for example. Then run HexenII adding "-game HexMatch" to the command line. To use the modified code, simply start with whichever code base you want. If you start with clean Raven code, just copy my modded files into the same directory, overwriting the old ones. If you are adding HexMatch into your own mod, you should search for "HexMatch" in the modified files. Whenever you bump up against a "HexMatch" comment, it means you need to translate that code over to your own codebase. The mods are simple and intuitive. You should have no problem at all. BUGS ---- Weapon balance: In my quest for network speed, I have made modifications to the firing rates and damage values of the laggiest weapons in the game. If you find that a certain weapon is too powerful or too weak, please let me know. Email phayyde@hexenworld.com. This version 1.0 release has been tested pretty thoroughly, However, I can make no guarantees that the weapons will "feel" the way they do in normal, unmodified Hexen II. It has been absolutely necessary to make these changes in order to reduce the lag. A perfect weapon balance is possible, but it will take time. This will only be achieved through a few more iterative releases. And through your feedback of course. Remember that the focus of this patch is to reduce lag and eliminate cheats. If you find any remaining cheats, I consider that a major bug. Please let me know so I can fixit! CHANGE LOG ----------- -Used NoCreate version 1.0 as a starting codebase. -Fixed the barrel/item spawning. Thanks, JJ! -Tweaked the Necromancer's BoneShards. Fewer shards, More damage! -Tweaked the Assassin's ToP'd Grenades. Fewer explosions, more damage! -Slowed the Purifier and cranked up the damage a little. -Did the same for the Crusader's Ice Staff. -Imp Stone spawning problem addressed. Fixed? You tell me. -Found horrific bug with Assassin's ToP'd Grenades. Fixed. -More work on Bone Shard. -Eliminated excessive exclamation points from readme file. Might need to revisit this problem! -Ice Mace optimizations -Meteor Staff optimizations. Thanks, Jeth'ro! -General code review and cleanup -Suicide flooder kick -Sheep flooder kick -Sheep munching for Exp fixed -Summoned Imp fragging for Exp fixed -Welcome message -Ported to HexenII version 1.09 -Eliminated impulse 40 cheat at all skill levels (DM only) -Ported to HexenII version 1.11 -Dropped code for: * NoCreate - Thanks, Raven! * Owner fragging ImpLord for Exp, part one - Thanks, Raven! * Impulse 40 stuff - Thanks, Raven! -Fixed infinite explosions bug. Thanks Keith Rice - Gaf Central rocks! Technical Details ----------------- You may well find problems with this patch. If so, please email me at phayyde@hexenworld.com - like Keith did. :) Author Information ------------------ Has created: Terrorist weapons patch for Quake. pseudonym - Ted_Koppel NoCreate Anti-Cheat mod for Hexen II. The first! er... The first. The HexMatch series Visit The Strategon "To Strive, To Seek, To Frag and not to Yield" http://www.hexenworld.com/strategon/ This is a ThoughtBlade Engineering patch http://www2.netdoor.com/~sjones/ Copyright and Distribution Permissions -------------------------------------- All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in this mod are owned by Activision or its licensors and are protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international copyright treaties and conventions and other laws. You can't own this mod. You can't sell this mod. You can't rent this mod. You can't lease this mod. You can't license this mod. If you want to do any of this, go ask Activision, because, hey, it's their mod. You can distribute it for free. You can play it. Please use it as a basis for your mods which are developed under the Activision licensing agreement. If you do so, you must partially credit Phayyde as the author. Availability ------------ This modification is available from the following places: FTP : ftp.cdrom.com in the /pub/idgames2/hexen2/hexenc/servers