Introduction.
SubSpace /OS is an in game programming system that allows you to create and maintain your own SubSpace games (or Zones as they are called) on a remote server.
SubSpace is configurable in just about every regard. This amount of configurability means that making a SubSpace Zone can be a complex process. Fear not ,most zones that you will want to make can easily be made using an existing template with minor changes.
Creating a Zone can be a thankless task. You spend hours making maps/artwork and configuring your zone and then everyone hates it - or even worse nobody comes at all. On the flip side it is an amazing feeling to design a game and have others enjoy themselves in it. Either way the prime motivation for you making a zone should be - yourself. If you like it then the chances are someone else will.
Welcome to the world of SubSpace/OS Game design.
Basic Design Philosophy.
Rule number one of multiplayer game design is - do not design the game, that’s the players job.
In a single player game you can design a story and script out what the player is going to do. Most single player games are puzzle games of some sort, from the latest 3d shooter to realtime wargames the formula is the same - Do X action to get to the reward Y, repeat until CD space runs out. The reward is usually in the form of some animated sequence or a new weapon or level, however the game is always scripted to the game designers vision. This is very good for single player games but when applied to a multiplayer environment it is disastrous. This is because multiplayer games do not end, they are infinitely replayable.
A single player game designer is like a sculptor whose vision we get to enjoy. A multiplayer game designer is more like an architect who although he designs the building cannot control what goes on within it.
The truth is that when dealing with real people THE SIMPLER THE BETTER. Do not over complicate the player with unnecessary details or constrict his activities EVEN when it is good for him. We are all familiar with this phenomenon in real life. How many times have you been irritated with a car door that autolocks every time you close it forcing you to unlock every time? Or even worse how many times have you bought software that tries to force you to register automatically and you have to figure out a way of stopping it?
With this in mind all the information needed to play your zone should be brief and easy to understand. Background stories and info are always entertaining but should be presented AFTER the critical game information not before.
Players may well enjoy a 4 page "novella" about the war between the great zarsquids of beta 3' and the terran imperium but in the end if it says - "The object is to kill all opposing players. Human ships on freq zero move really fast. Zarsquids on freq one have cloak." then you may want to consider putting that at the start of the text not the end.
Finally unlike a single player game don’t try to tell the players to "go this point, do this, then go to this point." it ain’t gonna happen. People instinctively know how to play, they don’t need to be given too many rules. Put some humans in a room add a ball and they will have fun.
Level design.
Great architects are not the ones who make the gaudy strange looking buildings, they are the ones who make buildings that people feel comfortable inside.
You should take this to heart when designing the SubSpace level map for your game. I have seen dozens of maps get left empty simply because the designer insisted on spelling his name in tile blocks or created pretty pictures all over it. Conversely players flock to levels that are functional and designed for their convenience instead of the designers ego.
A few practical tips.
Limit "wormholes" to three or less if possible. Wormholes are huge burden on the client and most players do not have a machine above a P90.
Do not make levels dense. Huge strips of tiles may run fine on your machine but there is a reason that most "official" SubSpace maps are very pipe like. Slower machines simply cannot handle huge tile areas. Try to keep all your walls to one tile thickness.
Don’t draw "radar pictures" in the tiles. Not only does it make you look lame but it means you are designing for looks not gameplay.
Avoid "choke points" in your level if you are allowing mines. Any area ten tiles or less that is frequently traveled WILL be mined.
If your game allows safe zones put lots of them around. Remember one safe zone means one place to mine.
ZONE OR SCENARIO?
The difference between a zone and a scenario is that a Scenario happens at set time and a Zone is always running. This is because scenarios tend to be more complex and involve more planning than a regular Zone game. I must confess I love the thrill of a scenario when I know only have one life and once I die - that’s it. For others they find the work and planning of a scenario too tedious when all they want to do is get in and have a blast. Designing your game to be played once or once a week can be beneficial as it does focus a large group together at once on the flip side if you are organizing this sort of event you should assume at least 20% non -attendance. Don’t take it personal organizing a meeting with people from all over the world at a particular time is a very difficult thing, just plan for the 20% not to turn up.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FAIL.
You will fail - we all do. You have spent two weeks working on a great zone with art & sound pack and nobody is playing it. Your friends in the game always claim they have to go to "dinner" when you mention playing in your zone - what did you do wrong?
Firstly did you post your zone on the SubSpace message boards? (http://SubSpace.vie.com)
Did you contact the numerous SubSpace guilds and organizations that love to promote new events?
Are your instructions simple? Remember when most people enter a game they WILL NOT read instructions no matter how much you insist that it is vital. So they will ask other players, if it can be answered in a sentence then they will get an answer otherwise they will be ignored and will leave.
Are you annoying? This is the toughest but sometimes you can put so much work into something you become a bit of a pain about it. Constantly emailing your (soon to be ex-) friends to come and play in it or spamming other zones with ads for yours. Nobody likes someone who is pushy, have some good manners and if you catch your friends playing in another zone don’t try to make them feel guilty. You wont make them feel guilty (mothers do it much better than you ever can) but you will make them want to avoid you or play under alias.
Is your game unplayable? Is your zone like this? "Bullets fire twice as fast! All ships fly faster than the jav! fire 8 level 4 bombs at once with 64 shrapnel! 6000 energy!" If so - your zone sucks.
"Super Zones" are the typical rookie zone that vets avoid like the plague. The thinking tends to be that "16 shrapnel is fun so 32 will be double as much fun!" it isn’t. Game restraint and balance is a very delicate process and a well balanced ship mixture is tough to get right. When in doubt DOWNGRADE don’t upgrade, you will always be better off.
For every ship positive give a negative. for Example in my revised ships I gave the warbird the ability to use stealth for nearly zero energy because it was so small. Conversely I reduced its energy max to 1200 because it was so small. Always balance.
You may have a great connection but to most players fast firing bullets , zippy ships and lots of weapons mean one thing - LAG. Regular modem users will look at any "super" zone and leave immediately. You should only EXTREMELY RARELY increase ship stats over the default maximums, we spent over a year and a half getting them to play well over a modem so tread carefully, you have been warned.
GAME BALANCE
A player enters your game for the first time.
BAM he gets killed.
Newbie gets restarted.
He sees another enemy and tries to get away, no good thee enemy is much faster than him....
BAM he gets killed.
Newbie gets restarted.
Newbie tried to "green" up however more powered up ships are doing the same.
BAM he gets killed.
Newbie leaves game.
I had no fun at all in that zone, yes I was that newbie. The mistake? We had the max energy set to 3000. This is a real example from a test zone we ran a year ago, we found it was next to impossible for zero bounty ship to green up fast enough to survive in a zone where 3000 energy ships where flying. The week after we reduced max energy to 1700. We never realized that one stat could unbalance the game so much, but it did.
Always think of the poor newbie when you design your game. A good rule of thumb should be that even the best game player in the universe should be dying at least once an hour with most good players dying once every five minutes. If you find expert players surviving for as long as they want in your game then you have a problem of game balance.
As a good test you should let a friend of yours get a full powered ship then you fight him with zero power ups. If you don’t beat him one time out of five then your zone is unbalanced. This is fine if the aim of the zone is not combat (flag grabbing for example) but if it’s purely combat then you should make changes.
Unbalancing stats: Some stats really unbalance the game if they are set to high with a slow greening process then they make the game unplayable for the newbie.
Max energy: The newbies level one guns are simply incapable of doing enough damage to the fully powered enemy. Think long and hard before raising this stat.
Max Charge rate: Sure it feels great to be able to blaze away constantly with bullets but if you cant kill anyone then it reduces the point somewhat. Throw in extra "super" prizes instead of raising this stat.
Max Thrust & Rotate: The Warbird default really is about the max maneuverability you should give any ship. Given latency issues any more than that and your zone will become know as "lag city".
Max Speed: A tricky one to judge but its no fun to never be able to run down a super fast ship, particularly in flag games.
Things to help balance your game.
There are several things that are useful to balancing your game and keeping the expert players from ruining your zone. These elements are easy to spot because the expert pilots will complain about them being unfair. Pay close attention these complaints from expert pilots as they are very useful tools in your design arsenal. Usually experts complain when they die "unfairly" this can be good and bad. If someone YOU KNOW is an expert is making these comments then you have a GREAT mine of information. Remember this ONLY applies to pilots who you KNOW are experts, not just whiners.
Here are some common examples.
"Damn shrapnel" - Great, this is as it should be. Players should die if they get to near combat. Complaints about this are a good thing as experts will always complain about something and this is the least important it shows your game is well balanced.
"Damn bursters" - Check the complainers win/loss ratio. If its 1/1 or worse then he may be right (most experts run around 2/1 or better) and you may want to reduce the burst damage or frequency.
"Damn Neg Terriers ( or insert ship name)" - Probably not an expert. Most good pilots can out maneuver any neg ship, but if valid he is probably complaining that he has to kill lower powered ships to get to the powerful ones. This can be a problem which is easily addressed by reducing the starting ships offensive capability slightly (even a minor rotation rate reduction is devastating to a beginning ship).
"Damn Lag" - This is the most worrying because it almost certainly ISNT lag he is complaining about. Experts have a good "feel" for how many bullets it takes to down a ship. If you have tinkered with the stats too much then he may be blaming lag. Look at the stats again and reduce some of the weirder ones back towards the defaults. If it is lag then you are probably overloading modems due to the "super ship" syndrome. Tone down the stats put less bullets & bombs on screen.
SETTING UP YOUR OWN SERVER
To set up your own server you will need the following….
A nice fast PC (p133 and above with 32 meg RAM is probably the minimum)
A nice internet connection. If you are going to host a server we highly recommend you have at least a ISDN line. Slower than this will simply be an unpleasant experience.
A static IP is reccomended if you intend to make your server popular.
To set up the server simply create a directory EG:"serversample" and put the following files in it.
QUICK & DIRTY
To get a zone running really quickly edit the SERVER.INI file.
Change the SYSOP password to something you want.
Edit your FAVORITES.LST file and add
My zone,127.0.0.1,900
#My test zone
drop to the command prompt and type
SUBGAME /NB
Then log into the game with the SYSOP password added onto your regular password preceded by a *
EG: Password = jackal
Type *jackal
Now enter your server and hit ESC C you may now change as many parameters as you want. As soon as you hit ESC then the server will recycle.
Lets go through these files one by one.
_soccer.lvl
This is the level file for the zone. Level editors can be found from the SubSpace Website (SubSpace.vie.com) or by entering the PRACTICE OFFLINE arena and holding down SHIFT+CTRL for the built in map editor.
SUBBILL.EXE
This application stores and keeps track of players scores and accounts. It is NOT necessary to have the billing.exe running to run SubSpace (see SUBGAME.EXE) neither is is nessecary to run the SUBBILL.EXE on the same machine as the server (see SERVER.INI)
SUBBILL.CFG
Do NOT change any of the parameters in here with one exception.
ALLOW NEW USERS can be set to ZERO if you do not want any new users to log in.
The BILLING PASSWORD must match the billing password in the server.ini
Moderate.txt
A list of users who are given moderator access. The format for this list is the name of the user followed by a line break EG:
USERNAME
USERNAME
USERNAME
News.txt
The news file for the zone, put in here zone rules and latest info. The user is given the choice of reading it when he enters the zone.
Obscene.txt
Players who have "block obscene messages" active never see any message that contains any words from this list. In here we have listed the most common words that people want blocked. You can add to this as you see fit.
RESERVED.TXT
This file contains reserved user names that cannot be entered. So for example you may want to reserve SYSOP. This means that no one can use that name or create one containing that name.
SERVER.CFG
This file is examined in detail in the SERVER CONFIGURATION section.
SERVER.INI
This file contains all of the general server data setup. Lets go through each of the parameters,
[Custom]
ArenaMode=0
This governs whether or not to allow users to create zone on your server. This is an advanced feature that is not available at the present/
[Arena]
ArenaMaxPlayers=35
This determines how many players you allow in each ARENA. An ARENA is a game. Each server actually runs a ZONE and each ZONE can have multiple ARENA’S. This parameter is the absolute MAXIMUM players per game.
ArenaDesiredPlayers=30
This determines your DESIRED players per ARENA. This is you want 30 players per game then after 30 the ZONE will create another arena. However users from that ARENA can move to the first arena upto to the maximum (in this case 35)
ArenaMinimumPlayers=5
This is the minimum players in an arena before they are sent a message telling them that they would be wise to maove to a more populated one.
SpawnKeepScores=0
This determines whether or not player created spawns keep track of scores. This defaults to ZERO or OFF you can turn it on by changing it to one. The main reason for having it OFF is that players can easily create a zone with their buddies and kill each other to rack up points.
MaxArenas=100
This is the maximum number of ARENAS that you will allow to be created in your ZONE.
MaxArenasMemory=64000
This is the memory which subarenas are alowed to take up (useful if your machine is low on memory) The default is 64 meg but you will rarely use above 16.
[Comms]
MaxQueueToLogin=16
PacketHistoryMax=2000
IncomingBufferSize=131072
OutgoingBufferSize=131072
EncryptMode=1
UnreliableBufferSize=128
TransportBufferSize=160
None of these should be modified.
[Misc]
RegisterKickShareware=1
Kicks of shareware users in favor of full version users when servers are full. Set to ZERO to allow equal rights.
MaxSharewarePlayers=-1
This determines the maximum number of shareware players allowed in your zone. –1 means NO limit.
MaxPlayers=60
This is the absolute maxmum players allowed on your ZONE in all arenas.
MenuKickOutDelay=12000
Don’t change.
LogPoints=0
Don’t change.
PointUpdateDiff=500
How often the server sends point updates to the user. Don’t change.
JackpotBroadcastPoints=0
When a Jackpot reaches this many points a message is sent to ALL ZONES linked to that billing server.
ServerLog=0
If set to one the server will log all events to a text file. Not very useful.
KeepAliveDelay=400
How long in MS before the server sends a dummy packet to a user to keep him alive. Don’t change.
DefaultLevelFile=_soccer.lvl
The level file used for this zone. This name can be whatever you want.
Port=5000
The port that this zone listens and communicates on. Not much point in changing this unless you have certain firewall problems. Each SERVER that you run MUST have a different port. So if running 2 servers on the same box you must have 2 sepearte port numbers.
[CPU]
LoopDelay=0
ProcessMaxTime=4
SleepPerIteration=0
SlowIterationWarningLevel=100
Don’t change any of these.
[Permission]
AllowBadMachineId=1
AllowLowBandwidth=1
MinimumSecondsToLogin=0
PermissionMaxPoints=0
PermissionMode=0
AutoPermissionPoints=0
AutoPermissionIDList=0
AutoPermissionMessage=Congratulations
Don’t change any of these.
[Password]
SysopPassword=secrets
This is the password that must be entered in oreder to be a sysop in this zone. A sysop password MUST have an * typed in front of it. Thus to log in as a sysop in this zone I would type *secrets. OR you can add this pass word to your log in password and always be a sysop when you enter a zone. Add *password to you log in password.
EnergyPassword=energy
This password allows the player to see other peoples energy. This must be activated by the *energy command.
ModeratorPassword=moderator
See SYSOP txt file for command list.
SuperModeratorPassword=supermoderatorpassword
See SYSOP txt file for command list.
VIPPassword=vip.
VIP’s are always able to log into a zone even if full.
[Billing]
LogMessages=0
Don’t touch this.
IP=127.0.0.1
This is the IP where the billing server is located 127.0.0.1 is the local machine.
Password=billingpassword
This password has to match the password in the billing.ini
ServerName=WARZONE PowerLeague
This is the name of the server as it will appear on VIE.s directory and on your Billing server.
Port=900
This is the port that the billing server resides on. This must match the port in the billing.ini
ServerId=5000
Each ZONE must have a unique ID number we usually make this number the same as the port and the score ID.
GroupId=1
Don’t touch this.
ScoreId=5000
Each ZONE must have a score ID. For ease of remembering we make this number the same as the port and the server ID.
ReconnectTime=12000
How long the server stays in standalone mode before it attempts to reconnect to the billing server.
AttemptTime=6400
How long the server attempts to connect to the billing server before it goes into stand alone mode.
[Advertise]
You have the ability to place small. bmps in your game which can be ads or background art. To place an ad simply made a .bmp (64*64 is best) in the SS pallette and call them ad0.bmp,ad1.bmp etc etc. The server will randomly pick one to display to the user.
SendMode=0
0= don’t send any advertisments. 1= send them when the player enters the zone only. 2= send them when player dies. 3=when he enters game AND when he dies.
DisplayMode=2
0= at top of screen behind all other art, 1=at top of screen on top of all other art, 2=floating around like a backdrop
Duration=12000
The length of display for the ad in ms.
[Directory]
IP=sscentral.vie.com
This is where you wish to register you server. At present there is only one directory server but others will be made available in due course.
Description=Powerball league zone.
This is a descrption of the zone that will appear in the directory servers description
NamePassword=cane
Port=4991
SERVER.SET file
This file is the one that is downloaded to your hard drive when you use the "get settings" command from inside the game. It includes the current values of the setting. For example the first line of a .SET file might look like this…
Bomb:BombDamageLevel:750:0:32000:Amount of damage a bomb causes at its center point (for all bomb levels)
Bomb:BombDamageLevel
The first name "BOMB" gives the category that this parameter fits into. In this case the "BOMB" area. The second gives a description of the parameter "BombDamageLevel" This tells you that this parameter sets the damage level for bombs.
:750:0:32000:
Now there are THREE NUMBERS seperated by a ":" EG: 750:0:32000
Going from left to right these numbers are
THE CURRENT SETTING (in this case 750)
THE MINIMUM SETTING (in this case 0)
THE MAXIMUM SETTING (in this case 32000)
So this means that the standard bomb damage level at the center point for bombs is 750 you could change it from any number between zero and 32000
Amount of damage a bomb causes at its center point (for all bomb levels)
Finally there is a brief description of the parameter that usually tells you all you need to know about the item.
SERVER.CFG file
This is the main controlling file for your zones gameplay. Lets go through all of the parameters. If you are having difficulty with a paremter do a WORD search of this document to take you to it. Or if its not there then post on the SERVER WEB BOARD (there is a link from the SubSpace client in the full version)
How do you read entries?
A typical entry looks something like this……
PrizeWeight:QuickCharge:0:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Full Energy' prize appearing
PrizeWeight:Energy:0:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Energy Upgrade' prize appearing
PrizeWeight:Rotation:0:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Rotation' prize appearing
PrizeWeight:Stealth:0:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Stealth' prize appearing
PrizeWeight:Cloak:0:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Cloak' prize appearing
PrizeWeight:AntiWarp:0:0:255:Likelyhood of 'AntiWarp' prize appearing
Lets run down the columns…
First off all look to the far right of the first column. This gives you a rough idea of what the entry is about, in this case it says..
"Likelyhood of 'Full Energy' prize appearing"
This means that the line sets a number that determines how likely it is that the prize a player picks up is a FULL ENERGY prize. This does NOT govern how many prizes appear (that’s another parameter) merely what KIND of prize it will be.
Next there are three numbers that in this case are..
"0:0:255:"
The first number is what you have the parameter set to. The second is the minimum possible to set it to. The Third number is the maximum possible to set it to. As it is set to zero that prize will never appear. However if you set it above zero then the probability is based on a comparison of how likely compared to other prizes you want it to be. For example if you set all your prizes to a number between 1 and 100 then the prize set to 100 would appear most frequently but a prize set to 1 would appear around 1 in 100 times. It IS possible to have numbers the same for prizes of equal value.
NOTE: In OUR examples below there are only two numbers eg:0:255 these are the maximum and minimum.
Next is only piece of text that gives a short text note to what the parameter is about. In this case.
"Quickcharge"
Finally the category of prize is listed. In this case.
"PrizeWeight"
The only thing you need to worry about is the first number. You CANNOT change the minimum or maximum (the second & third numbers) they are there for your reference only.
THE PARAMETERS
I will go through all of the parameters as if I was making a zone to give you an idea of the creation process. The prefered method is to change these parameters WITHIN the game by using the ESC C command. This gives you a reminder of which parameter does what and a breif explantation.
+Bomb:BombDamageLevel:0:32000:Amount of damage a bomb causes at its center point (for all bomb levels)
This is the amount of damage that a bomb does at "ground zero". All bombs actually do the same amount of damage at the impact point but larger bombs have larger blast radii. The damage is reduced exponentially from the point of ground zero.
+Bomb:BombAliveTime:100:12000:Time bomb is alive (in hundredths of a second)
Bombs have a built in "expiration date" that is measured in milliseconds. Thus if you fire any bomb it will disappear after this time. We do not allow bombs to go on forever until they hit the edge of the map because of the addition traffic that this would cause with an arena of many players, however you may want to up this time limit for smaller player games.
+Bomb:BombExplodeDelay:0:250:How long after the proximity sensor is triggered before bomb explodes. (note: it explodes immediately if ship moves away from it after triggering it)
Bombs in SubSpace are actually semi-smart this delay is the amount of time (in ms) the bomb will wait for the target to move closer before exploding. Bombs will automatically detonate if the closest enemy ship to it starts to move away thus ensuring the most amount of damage.
+Bomb:BombExplodePixels:1:250:Blast radius in pixels for an L1 bomb (L2 bombs double this, L3 bombs triple this)
This is the blast radius in pixels of each level of bombs. The initial setting is for level one bombs and from then on it is multiplied by the bomb level.
+Bomb:ProximityDistance:0:10:Radius of proximity trigger in tiles. Each bomb level adds 1 to this amount.
The bomb proximity radius is measured in tiles (squares of 8 pixels) rather than actual pixels. Thus you can have a bomb that will detonate even when it can do no damage to the nearest enemy or a bomb whose fuse turns on only when the target is well within the blast radius. This setting is for level 1 bombs, each levl of bombs adds 1 tile.
+Bomb:JitterTime:0:250:How long the screen jitters from a bomb hit. (in hundredths of a second)
When a bomb explodes a special effect of the screen "wobbling" happens. This can be increased if you want the bombs to feel beefier.
+Bomb:BombSafety:0:1:Whether proximity bombs have a firing safety (0=no 1=yes). If enemy ship is within proximity radius, will it allow you to fire.
This safety fuse will not allow you to fire a bomb if an enemy is so close that it would cause you harm. You can turn this off if you want to live a little "wild".
+Bomb:EBombShutdownTime:0:32000:Maximum time recharge is stopped on players hit with an EMP bomb.
This is the amount of time that the enemies recharge rate is stopped for when they are hit by an EMP bomb (as fired by the weasel usually).
+Bomb:EBombDamagePercent:0:2000:Percentage of normal damage applied to an EMP bomb 0=0% 1000=100% 2000=200%
This is the amount of "real" damage inflicted by an EMP bomb when it explodes in addition to its shutdown damage.
+Bomb:BBombDamagePercent:0:2000:Percentage of normal damage applied to a bouncing bomb 0=0% 1000=100% 2000=200%
If you want a bouncing bomb can do more or less damage than usual. You can set it to upto 200% of regular bombs
Brick:BrickTime:500:30000:How long bricks last (in hundredths of a second)
This is how long a brick lasts before it disappears (in MS)
Brick:BrickSpan:1:100:How many tiles bricks are able to span
This is how large a brick is when dropped in tiles (a tile is 8 pixels)
+Bullet:BulletDamageLevel:0:32000:Maximum amount of damage that a L1 bullet will cause
The amount of damage that a level one bullet will cause. This is subtracted from the targets energy.
+Bullet:BulletDamageUpgrade:0:32000:Amount of extra damage each bullet level will cause
Unlike bombs bullets damage increases by a fixed amount of damage rather than a multiplier. Thus is this number is set to 100 a level three bomb will cause the base bullet damage plus 200.
+Bullet:BulletAliveTime:100:1000:How long bullets live before disappearing (in hundredths of a second)
This is the lifetime of each bullet in ms before it disappears. For latency reasons you should rarely increase this number although in smaller zones this may be applicable.
+Burst:BurstDamageLevel:0:5000:Maximum amount of damage caused by a single burst bullet.
This is the amount of damage that a bullet from the "burst" weapon inflicts.
+Cost:PurchaseAnytime:0:1:Where prizes can be purchased 0 = safe zone, 1 = anywhere
You can allow players to purchase items from their score by using the ?buy command if you wish. This parameter determines whether or not players need to be in a safe zone to buy items or whether he can buy them anywhere.
+Cost:Recharge:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Energy:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Rotation:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Stealth:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Cloak:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:XRadar:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Gun:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Bomb:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Bounce:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Thrust:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Speed:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:MultiFire:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Prox:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Super:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Shield:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Shrap:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:AntiWarp:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Repel:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Burst:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Decoy:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Thor:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Brick:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Rocket:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
+Cost:Portal:0:32000:Cost (in points) to purchase this prize
All of the above are the costs in points for each item when using the ?buy command. If the item cost is zero then the item is unavailable.
+Door:DoorDelay:100:32000:How often doors attempt to switch their state.
The doors or "gates" in the tileset switch on and off at various rates depending on their postion in the tile sets (most changing to least changing left to right). This timer determines how often the doors ‘check’ to see if they should switch.
+Door:DoorMode:-2:255:Door mode (-2=all doors completely random, -1=weighted random (some doors open more often than others), 0-255=fixed doors (1 bit of byte for each door specifying whether it is open or not)
+Flag:FlaggerOnRadar:0:1:Whether the flaggers appear on radar in red 0=no 1=yes
DO flag carriers appear on radar? If set to ON then enemies will appear red and freinds will appear bright yellow.
+Flag:FlaggerKillMultiplier:0:255:Number of times more points are given to a flagger (1 = double points, 2 = triple points)
When a player is carrying a flag you can give him a multiplier for every kill he gets while carrying the flag.
+Flag:FlaggerGunUpgrade:0:1:Whether the flaggers get a gun upgrade 0=no 1=yes
When carrying a flag the carrier can have a bonus of one gun level if this parameter is set to On. Thus a warbird with level three guns carrying a flag will have level 4 guns.
+Flag:FlaggerBombUpgrade:0:1:Whether the flaggers get a bomb upgrade 0=no 1=yes
When carrying a flag the carrier can have a bonus of one bomb level if this parameter is set to On. Thus a Leviathan with level three bombs carrying a flag will have level 4 bombs.
+Flag:FlaggerFireCostPercent:0:2000:Percentage of normal weapon firing cost for flaggers 0=Super 1000=100% 2000=200%
When carrying a flag the carrier can have modified firing energy costs. If set to "super’ then the carryer fires energy free! The Rabbit zone for example allows carriers to fire at 75% energy so you would set the parameter to 750.
+Flag:FlaggerDamagePercent:0:2000:Percentage of normal damage received by flaggers 0=Invincible 1000=100% 2000=200%
When carrying a flag this is the amount of built in "armor" or damage that the carrier takes. Thus a setting of 500 then he would only receive 50% of all damage inflicted upon him.
+Flag:FlaggerSpeedAdjustment:-4000:4000:Amount of speed adjustment player carrying flag gets (negative numbers mean slower)
When carrying a flag you can alter how fast in comparison to his normal ship he moves. You can speed him up or slow him down.
+Flag:FlaggerThrustAdjustment:-25:5:Amount of thrust adjustment player carrying flag gets (negative numbers mean less thrust)
When carrying a flag this is the amount of thrust given or taken away from the flagger.
+Flag:FlaggerBombFireDelay:0:32000:Delay given to flaggers for firing bombs (0=ships normal firing rate -- note: please do not set this number less than 20)
This is the modified bomb fire rate for flag carriers. The delay is in MS.
Flag:CarryFlags:0:2:Whether the flags can be picked up and carried (0=no, 1=yes, 2=yes-one at a time)
This parameter sets whether or not flags are able to be picked up or not. 0 will give you a turf style game, 1 will allow you to pick up as many flags as you like, 2 will only allow you to pick up flags one at a time (good for running style games).
+Flag:FlagDropDelay:0:720000:Time before flag is dropped by carrier (0=never)
This is the amount of time (in ms) that the player has after he picks up a flag before he drops it. Setting this to zero will allow him to carry it forever ( or until he dies).
+Flag:FlagDropResetReward:0:32000:Minimum kill reward that a player must get in order to have his flag drop timer reset.
When carrying a flag the player can reset the carrying timer to maximum by killing a player with a large enough bounty, this parameter sets that bounty.
+Flag:EnterGameFlaggingDelay:0:32000:Time a new player must wait before they are allowed to see flags
When a player enters the zone flags are not visible to him for a little while. This parameter sets the timer.
Flag:FlagMode:0:2:Style of flag game (0=dropped flags are un-owned, carry all flags to win)(1=dropped flags are owned, own all flags to win)(2=Turf style flag game)
This parameter sets the game style of a flag game. 0 sets the game to a running style game. When a player drops a flag it becomes un owned again. The first team to carry all flags at once wins. 1 sets the game to a warzone style game where even after players have dropped flags they remain "owned" until and enemy comes and steals them. The first team to own all flags wins. 2 sets the game to static flags that can be owned but not carried. This is similar to the ‘turf" zone.
+Flag:FlagResetDelay:1000:10000000:Amount of time before an un-won flag game is reset (in hundredths of a second)
Flag:MaxFlags:0:32:Maximum number of flags in the arena. (0=no flag game)
This is the maximum number of flags that are randomly distributed around the map. Setting this to zero means that no flags are placed.
Flag:RandomFlags:0:1:Whether the actual number of flags is randomly picked up to MaxFlags (0=no 1=yes)
+Flag:FlagReward:0:5000:Number of points given for a flag victory. Formula = (playersInGame *
playersInGame * FlagReward / 1000). (0=no flag victory is EVER declared)
This is the number of points awarded for winning the flag game. If this is set to zero then the game goes on forever EG: rabbit zone or turf.
+Flag:FlagRewardMode:0:1:How flag reward points are divided up (0 = each team member gets rewardPoints) (1 = each team member gets (rewardPoints * numberOfTeamMembers / maximumAllowedPerTeam))
+Flag:FlagTerritoryRadius:0:1024:When flagger drops flags, this is how spread out they are (distance from drop-centroid in tiles). (note: 0 = special value meaning hide flags in center area of board as normal)
This setting determines how far from the flag carrier the flags are dropped to give a small spread affect. If you always want flags to drop right next to the player then set this to 1. If you set it to zero then the flags are dropped no where near the player but are rather randomly reset around the board, this is the case for the "rabbit" zone.
+Flag:FlagTerritoryRadiusCentroid:0:1024:When flagger drops flags, this is how far the drop-centroid is randomly adjusted from the actual drop location) (note: 1024 = hide anywhere on level)
+Flag:FriendlyTransfer:0:1:Whether the flaggers can transfer flags to other teammates (0=no 1=yes)
This parameter sets whether or not freindly players can pick up the flag after you drop it. This is not the case for the "wazrone" style game but IS the case for the "rabbit" zone.
+Kill:BountyIncreaseForKill:0:255:Number of points added to players bounty each time he kills an opponent.
A players bounty can go up because he picks up prizes or because he kills other players this parameter sets the amount of increase for each kill a player gets. EG: if you set this variable to 30 and the player had a bounty of 100 then when he killed a player his bounty would increase to 130.
+Kill:EnterDelay:200:32000:How long after a player dies before he can re-enter the game.
Players will have noticed this most evidently in the "powerball" zone. It is a ‘sin bin’ or delay after having died. This can actually be very useful to give the player a few "insult" moments before he re entered the game.
+Kill:KillPointsPerFlag:0:250:Number of bonus points given to a player based on the number of flags his team has (as is done in Turf zone now)
Every time count in a flag game (defined below) then the player can be awarded a stock amount of points for his entire teams flags. This is most evident in the turf zone.
+Kill:KillPointsMinimumBounty:0:32000:Bounty of target must be over this value to get any KillPointsPerFlag bonus points.
+Kill:DebtKills:0:250:Number of kills a player must get after dying or resetting-ship before he starts getting points for kills.
You can set the game so that you need to get a certain number of KILLS before you receive any points for kills. This is useful for games where you really want to encourage survival.
+Kill:NoRewardKillDelay:0:32000:If you kill the same guy twice within this amount of time, you get no points for the second kill. (in hundredths of a second)
This parameter was put in to stop people continually killing a "friend" in order to rack up points. It is a timer that gives zero points if you kill the same player twice within it.
+Kill:BountyRewardPercent:0:5000:Percentage of your own bounty added to your reward when you kill somebody else.
A "rich get richer" scheme that encourages survival. Useful in zones where people have stopped wanting to get their bounties high to avoid giving enemies so many points, by reseting their ships they can effectively remove a large amount of points from enemies. By giving a % of the kill you encourage people to keep high bounties making nice juicy targets.
+Kill:FixedKillReward:-1:1000:Fixed number of points given for any kill (regardless of bounty) (-1 = use bounty as always)
Useful for nice simple zones. You could design a zone for example that simply gave 1 point per kill and the first to 6 kills was the winner. Leaving this at -1 uses the standard bounty system.
+Kill:JackpotBountyPercent:0:4000:Percentage of kill value added to Jackpot 0=No Jackpot Game 1000=100% 2000=200%
KING OF THE HILL
King of the hill games give players a ‘crown" that they get when the game starts, this crown is removed when they die a certain number of times or when a timer runs out after which it is removed. The last player in the zone with a crown is "king of the hill" and wins the game. The following parameters define various aspects of this game style.
+King:DeathCount:0:255:Number of deaths a player is allowed until his crown is removed
+King:ExpireTime:500:720000:Initial time given to each player at beginning of 'King of the Hill' round
+King:RewardFactor:0:5000:Number of points given to winner of 'King of the Hill' round (uses FlagReward formula)
+King:NonCrownAdjustTime:0:30000:Amount of time added for killing a player without a crown
+King:NonCrownMinimumBounty:0:32000:Minimum amount of bounty a player must have in order to receive the extra time.
+King:CrownRecoverKills:0:200:Number of crown kills a non-crown player must get in order to get their crown back.
+Message:AllowAudioMessages:0:1:Whether players can send audio messages (0=no 1=yes)
Determines whether or not you allow players to send audio clips to each other as set up in the game options menu of their cleint. You may wish to disable this if bandwidth or audio content is an issue.
+Message:QuickMessageLimit:3:10:Maximum number of messages that can be sent in a row before player is kicked.
Some players like to ‘spam’ a zone making rather a nuisance of themselves. This parameter sets how many messages they can send in a row before they are booted off the server. A pause of a few seconds willreset this so you can validly send a lot of messages in a team game.
+Mine:MineAliveTime:200:60000:Time that mines are active (in hundredths of a second)
Determines how long mines last in a game. Setting this short will create "tactical" mines that dissapear quickly, setting it high makes for "strategic" mines that will last a long time.
+Mine:TeamMaxMines:0:255:Maximum number of mines allowed to be placed by an entire team
Sets the maximum amount of mines that can be set by the WHOLE TEAM, thus if it is set to 10 and there is a team of 4 players then once ten mines are set then NO ONE on that team can lay any more mines.
Misc:FrequencyShipTypes:0:1:Whether ship type is based on frequency player is on or not (0=no 1=yes)
If this is set to 1 then freqs 0-5 determines what kind of ship you can fly. Thus EVERYONE on freq 0 flys a warbird everyone on 2 a JAV etc.
+Misc:WarpPointDelay:100:32000:How long a Portal point is active.
Sets how long a portal lasta before it dissapears, note that a portal is always removed after you have used it anyway.
+Misc:DecoyAliveTime:200:12000:Time a decoy is alive (in hundredths of a second)
How long a decoy lasts, Not usually much point in setting this too high as it causes lots of confusion J
+Misc:BounceFactor:16:255:How bouncy the walls are (16=no-speed-loss)
This is a fun one. This determines how bouncy walls are. Setting it below 16 can lead to a rather solid "thump" feel whereas setting it high can lead to a crazy bouncy zone J
+Misc:SafetyLimit:100:900000:Amount of time that can be spent in the safe zone.
The amount of time that a player can stay in the saftey zone before he is booted. Try to make it only as long as a "bathroom break" (or just less if you are feeling sadistic). Players who just want to hang and chat should be in SPECTATOR mode anyway.
+Misc:TickerDelay:100:32000:Amount of time between ticker help messages.
The delay between HELP ticker messages.
+Misc:WarpRadiusLimit:8:1024:When ships are randomly placed in the arena, this parameter will limit how far from the center of the arena they can be placed (1024=anywhere)
If you wish you can limit where players ships start by this parameter. You should note that even when this is set to 1024 the game detects how many players are in the zone and the less players there are the more likely they are to start at the center anyway (to keep players together in a big open map).
+Misc:ActivateAppShutdownTime:0:3000:Amount of time a ship is shutdown after application is reactivated (ie. when they come back from windows mode)
Some people just get up to no good. Who know what they could be doing when they miminze the program? Thus we give them a nice engine shutdown for this amount of time to encourage only minimizing when in a safe zone.
+Misc:NearDeathLevel:0:800:Amount of energy that constitutes a near-death experience (ships bounty will be decreased by 1 when this occurs -- used for dueling zone)
useful for "marking" players who have nearly died in dueling matches.
+Misc:VictoryMusic:0:1:Whether the zone plays victory music or not.
Just before a flag game is won then the Victory music can be played. Some people find this annoying and you can shut it off with this parameter.
+Misc:BannerPoints:0:720000:Number of points require to display a banner
How many point must be earned in this zone before a banner can be set.
+Misc:MaxLossesToPlay:0:255:Number of deaths before a player is forced into spectator mode (0=never)
This is very useful for scenario games where you want to limit the amount of deaths a player can have. Some of the best scenarios I have played have been "one death" zones. After this death you are booted into spec mode where you can watch the end of the match.
+Misc:SpectatorQuiet:0:1:Whether spectators can talk to active players (1=no 0=yes)
This is to stop specators giving hints to players in the game when set to off.
+Misc:MaxPlaying:0:200:Maximum number of players that can be playing at one time (does not count spectators, 0=limited only by maximum allowed in arena (not a user setting))
useful for mass spectator games with only a few contestants.
Misc:TimedGame:0:10000000:Amount of time in a timed game (like speed zone) (0=not a timed game)
The amount of time that a timed game lasts.
Misc:ResetScoreOnFrequencyChange:0:1:Whether a players score should be reset when they change frequencies (used primarily for timed games like soccer)
The following group of parameters is only for those who are very interested in connection speeds. They should be rarely changed.
+PacketLoss:C2SKickOutPercent:750:970:ClientToServer packetloss percentage before being kicked (this is percentage that make it 800 = 80% good or allow 20% packetloss)
+PacketLoss:S2CKickOutPercent:750:970:ServerToClient packetloss percentage before being kicked (this is percentage that make it 800 = 80% good or allow 20% packetloss)
+PacketLoss:SpectatorPercentAdjust:0:500:Amount of extra packetloss a spectator is allowed to have.
+Periodic:RewardDelay:0:720000:Time interval between each periodic reward (0=no periodic reward)
An example of this would be the turf zone that gives players a reward based on the flags held by that team every few minutes.
+Periodic:RewardMinimumPlayers:1:255:Number of players that must be in the arena before periodic rewards will occur
+Periodic:RewardPoints:-50:1000:Number of points given out to team members (per flag owned). (Negative numbers = flagCount * playersInArena)
+Prize:MultiPrizeCount:2:255:Number of random 'Greens' given with a 'MultiPrize'
The standard setting for this is 10. If you wish to give players powerful ships at the start the "initial bounty" parameter may be more useful.
+Prize:PrizeFactor:0:5000:Number of prizes hidden is based on number of players in game. This number adjusts the formula, higher numbers mean more prizes.
+Prize:PrizeDelay:100:12000:How often prizes are regenerated (in hundredths of a second)
+Prize:PrizeHideCount:0:100:Number of prizes that are regenerated every PrizeDelay.
+Prize:MinimumVirtual:10:512:Distance from center of arena that prizes/flags/soccer-balls will generate
This number is in tiles (8*8 pixel squares)
+Prize:UpgradeVirtual:0:512:Amount of additional distance added to MinimumVirtual for each player that is in the game.
As more players enter a zone we increase the radius that prizes, flags and new players are placed, thus with only a few players everything will be placed near the center. You can adjust this to make it more spread out if you wish.
+Prize:PrizeMaxExist:200:12000:Maximum amount of time that a hidden prize will remain on screen. (actual time is random)
Note that by "hidden" we just mean a prize that has appeared in the zone and has not yet been picked up.
+Prize:PrizeMinExist:200:12000:Minimum amount of time that a hidden prize will remain on screen. (actual time is random)
+Prize:PrizeNegativeFactor:1:32000:Odds of getting a negative prize. (1 = every prize, 32000 = extremely rare)
Negative prizes REMOVE or downgrade that item from a players inventory. Very unpopular item. This will use the same table as regular prizes thus the most common UPGRADE will be the most common DOWNGRADE,
+Prize:DeathPrizeTime:100:12000:How long the prize exists that appears after killing somebody.
When a player dies he leaves behind a prize that can be picked up this determines how long that prize lasts.
+Prize:EngineShutdownTime:50:32000:Time the player is affected by an 'Engine Shutdown' Prize (in hundredth of a second)
The following lists the PROBABILTY of a certain prize being generated. Note that the ranger of numbers is purely for fine tuning thus if all prizes are set at 255 it will have the same effect as if they were all set at 1 however setting one prize at 255 and all the others at 1 would result in that prize being generated far more often. We usually set all of our prize ranges between 1-100. Setting any of these numbers to zero results in the prize never appearing.
+PrizeWeight:QuickCharge:1:255:Likelyhood of 'Full Energy' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Energy:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Energy Upgrade' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Rotation:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Rotation' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Stealth:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Stealth' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Cloak:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Cloak' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:AntiWarp:0:255:Likelyhood of 'AntiWarp' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:XRadar:0:255:Likelyhood of 'XRadar' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Warp:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Warp' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Gun:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Gun Upgrade' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Bomb:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Bomb Upgrade' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:BouncingBullets:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Bouncing Bullets' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Thruster:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Thruster' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:TopSpeed:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Speed' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Recharge:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Recharge Rate' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:MultiFire:0:255:Likelyhood of 'MultiFire' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Proximity:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Proximity Bomb' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Glue:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Engine Shutdown' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:AllWeapons:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Super!' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Shields:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Shields' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Shrapnel:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Shrapnel Upgrade' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Repel:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Repel' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Burst:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Burst' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Decoy:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Decoy' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Thor:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Thor' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Portal:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Portal' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Brick:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Brick' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:Rocket:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Rocket' prize appearing
+PrizeWeight:MultiPrize:0:255:Likelyhood of 'Multi-Prize' prize appearing
+Radar:RadarMode:0:4:Radar mode (0=normal, 1=half/half, 2=quarters, 3=half/half-see team mates, 4=quarters-see team mates)
In this mode the teams are divided by radar map. 1= all odd numbers are on the left and all even on the right. When you go into enemy territory then you LOSE ALL RADAR. This can be very frightening. 2= Same as 1 but when in enemy territory you can see friends on radar. 3= is the same as above but divides the zone into 4 areas not 2.
+Radar:RadarNeutralSize:0:1024:Size of area between blinded radar zones (in pixels)
This sets up the size of the nuetral "buffer" zone where everyone can see (only used with RADAR modes 1-4)
Radar:MapZoomFactor:8:12:A number representing how far you can see on radar.
How far the radar sees. Increasing it makes the radar more strategic but increases modem traffic.
Parameters for the REPEL (CTRL+SHIFT) weapon which hurls opponents away from you.
+Repel:RepelSpeed:500:8000:Speed at which players are repelled
+Repel:RepelTime:10:500:Time players are affected by the repel (in hundredths of a second)
+Repel:RepelDistance:0:1000:Number of pixels from the player that are affected by a repel.
Parameters for using the ROCKET (F5) which gives a huge increase in speed to the player.
+Rocket:RocketThrust:1:30:Thrust value given while a rocket is active.
+Rocket:RocketSpeed:0:8000:Speed value given while a rocket is active.
+Shrapnel:ShrapnelSpeed:1:6000:Speed that shrapnel travels
+Shrapnel:InactiveShrapDamage:0:100:Amount of damage shrapnel causes in it's first 1/4 second of life.
This parameter was introduced because it was discovered that when a bomb landed nearby a player he would receive damage from many bullets at once from the shrapnel. To avoid this dilemma you can reduce the amount of damage that shrapnel does for the first ¼.
+Shrapnel:ShrapnelDamagePercent:0:2000:Percentage of normal damage applied to shrapnel (relative to bullets of same level) 0=0% 1000=100% 2000=200%
using this you can make shrapnel less or more powerful. Remember that a players base damage level for shrapnel is the same as his CURRENT bullet damage.
+Shrapnel:Random:0:1:Whether shrapnel spreads in circular or random patterns 0=circular 1=random
Good players can avoid predictable shrapnel damage so we introduced random shrapnel. You can keep the old "classic" look by changing this setting.
The following govern the SOCCER or POWERBALL game for SubSpace.
+Soccer:BallBounce:0:1:Whether the ball bounces off walls (0=ball go through walls, 1=ball bounces off walls)
+Soccer:AllowBombs:0:1:Whether the ball carrier can fire his bombs (0=no 1=yes)
+Soccer:AllowGuns:0:1:Whether the ball carrier can fire his guns (0=no 1=yes)
+Soccer:PassDelay:10:1000:How long after the ball is fired before anybody can pick it up (in hundredths of a second)
This is an important parameter. If you set it higher then players can only do long passes as short passes will go straight through the freindly player. However if you make very short passes possible then lag will mean that players will often miss the ball for 200ms anyway.
+Soccer:Mode:0:6:Goal configuration (0=any goal, 1=left-half/right-half, 2=top-half/bottom-half,
3=quadrants-defend-one-goal, 4=quadrants-defend-three-goals, 5=sides-defend-one-goal, 6=sides-defend-three-goals)
Sets which quad each team can score in. the usual is 1 giving the traditional left right game however it can be set all the way upto a six team match (you must of course place these goals on the map).
Soccer:BallCount:0:3:Number of soccer balls in the arena (0=soccer game off)
+Soccer:SendTime:80:500:How often the balls position is updated (note: set larger if you have more soccer balls to prevent too much modem traffic)
+Soccer:Reward:-32000:5000:Negative numbers equal absolute points given, positive numbers use FlagReward formula.
Soccer:CapturePoints:-1000:1000:If positive, these points are distributed to each goal/team. When you make a goal, the points get transferred to your goal/team. In timed games, team with most points in their goal wins. If one team gets all the points, then they win as well. If negative, teams are given 1 point for each goal, first team to reach -CapturePoints points wins the game.
+Soccer:UseFlagger:0:1:If player with soccer ball should use the Flag:Flagger* ship adjustments or not (0=no, 1=yes)
By setting this to ON you can handicap or enhance the soccer ball carrier just as you would a flagger.
+Soccer:BallLocation:0:1:Whether the balls location is displayed at all times or not (0=not, 1=yes)
This refers to the balls position on the large radar (ALT).
Team:MaxFrequency:0:9999:Maximum number of frequencies allowed in arena (5 would allow frequencies 0,1,2,3,4)
How many teams you are going to allow in your zone. EG: Chaos zone has upto 9999 wheras the POWERBALL zone only has 2.
Team:MaxPerTeam:1:100:Maximum number of players on a non-private frequency
Team:MaxPerPrivateTeam:0:32000:Maximum number of players on a private frequency (0=same as MaxPerTeam)
+Team:DesiredTeams:1:20:Number of teams the server creates when adding new players before it starts adding new players to existing teams.
When players add a zone they are added to additional freqs until this number is reached then the intial freqs are filled out.
+Team:ForceEvenTeams:0:10:Whether people are allowed to change teams if it would make the teams uneven. 0 = no restrictions, 1-10 = allowed variance
In some games you will want to force fairness into the game by keeping the sides balanced (EG: powerball). Using this you can restrict people from joining the "winning team" .
+Team:SpectatorFrequency:0:9999:Frequency reserved for spectators (does not have to be within MaxFrequency limit)
Territory parameters are primarily used for TURF style games.
+Territory:RewardDelay:0:720000:Time interval between each territory reward (0=no territory reward)
+Territory:RewardBaseFlags:0:255:Minimum number of flags required to receive the territory reward
+Territory:RewardMinimumPlayers:0:255:Minimum number of players required in game to receive the territory reward
+Territory:RewardPoints:0:500:Amount of points given out to the players at end of each time interval (formula is complicated)
+Toggle:AntiWarpPixels:0:3000:Distance Anti-Warp affects other players (in pixels) (note: enemy must also be on radar)
The ANTIWARP device stops enemies from warping away this parameter sets the distance of this holding effect.
+Wormhole:GravityBombs:0:1:Whether a wormhole affects bombs (0=no 1=yes)
You can change this etting to allow bombs to sail by wormholes without being warped by gravity the way bullets do.
+Wormhole:SwitchTime:0:32000:How often the wormhole switches its destination.
Wormholes will warp ships to the same point (or nearby) if they both enter within this time period, This allows for wormhole chases. If you want the wormholes to be sure fire escape from pursueres then set this to a low number.
"ALL SHIPS" PARAMTERS.
These are actually set for each ship individually so you can customize each ship type. Thus there is an "InitialRotation" for the warbird, jav etc all of which are independent. We highly recommend taking the existing ship models and tweaking them slowly rather than designing a new ship from scratch. This six ship types in the game have been worked out over 2 years and its very easy to unbalance ship types. Tread carefully but dont be afraid to experiment.
All:InitialRotation:0:800:Initial rotation rate of the ship (0 = can't rotate, 400 = full rotation in 1 second)
This parameter sets how much INITIAL rotation a ship gets it does not set the MAXIMUM that is set elsewhere below.
How fast the ship type rotates.
All:InitialThrust:0:24:Initial thrust of ship (0 = none)
This parameter sets how much INITIAL thrust a ship gets it does not set the MAXIMUM that is set elsewhere below.
Be very wary about setting this high. Thrust = lag. Any ship more maneuverable than the warbird will probably appear jumpy to most Internet users.
All:InitialSpeed:0:6000:Initial speed of ship (0 = can't move)
This parameter sets how much INITIAL speed a ship gets it does not set the MAXIMUM that is set elsewhere below.
All:InitialRecharge:0:32000:Initial recharge rate, or how quickly this ship recharges its energy.
This parameter sets how much INITIAL recharge a ship gets it does not set the MAXIMUM that is set elsewhere below.
We have found the recharge rate to be a critical parameter. While decreasing can lead to excellent ‘energy’ games increasing it tends to make for dull zones.
All:InitialEnergy:1:32000:Initial amount of energy that the ship can have.
This parameter sets how much INITIAL recharge a ship gets it does not set the MAXIMUM that is set elsewhere below.
The "hit points" of SubSpace we made it a rule that all ships must be able to get the same amount of energy and charge rate however you may find different.
All:MaximumRotation:0:800:Maximum rotation rate of the ship (0 = can't rotate, 400 = full rotation in 1 second)
This is the MAXIMUM rotation that can be achieved after greening. It is not the INITIAL setting that is set above..
All:MaximumThrust:0:24:Maximum thrust of ship (0 = none)
This is the MAXIMUM thrust that can be achieved after greening. It is not the INITIAL setting that is set above.
All:MaximumSpeed:0:6000:Maximum speed of ship (0 = can't move)
This is the MAXIMUM speed that can be achieved after greening. It is not the INITIAL setting that is set above.
All:MaximumRecharge:0:32000:Maximum recharge rate, or how quickly this ship recharges its energy.
This is the MAXIMUM recharge that can be achieved after greening. It is not the INITIAL setting that is set above.
All:MaximumEnergy:1:32000:Maximum amount of energy that the ship can have.
This is the MAXIMUM energy that can be achieved after greening. It is not the INITIAL setting that is set above.
These upgrade settings determine how fast or slowly a ship gains in each of these areas when its gets a green. Thus if you want the Jav to be fast but want it to take a long time to achive this speed through greening then you would set the UPGRADE THRUST to 1 for the JAV.
All:UpgradeRotation:0:800:Amount added per 'Rotation' Prize
All:UpgradeThrust:0:24:Amount added per 'Thruster' Prize
All:UpgradeSpeed:0:6000:Amount added per 'Speed' Prize
All:UpgradeRecharge:0:32000:Amount added per 'Recharge Rate' Prize
All:UpgradeEnergy:0:32000:Amount added per 'Energy Upgrade' Prize
All:CloakStatus:0:2:Whether ships are allowed to receive 'Cloak' 0=no 1=yes 2=yes/start-with
In the Standard game only the Spider gets cloak but you can give any ship cloak by changing this parameter.
All:StealthStatus:0:2:Whether ships are allowed to receive 'Stealth' 0=no 1=yes 2=yes/start-with
All:XRadarStatus:0:2:Whether ships are allowed to receive 'X-Radar' 0=no 1=yes 2=yes/start-with
All:AntiWarpStatus:0:2:Whether ships are allowed to receive 'Anti-Warp' 0=no 1=yes 2=yes/start-with
+All:CloakEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy required to have 'Cloak' activated (thousanths per hundredth of a second)
+All:StealthEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy required to have 'Stealth' activated (thousanths per hundredth of a second)
+All:XRadarEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy required to have 'X-Radar' activated (thousanths per hundredth of a second)
+All:AntiWarpEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy required to have 'Anti-Warp' activated (thousanths per hundredth of a second)
All:InitialRepel:0:255:Initial number of Repels given to ships when they start
All:InitialBurst:0:255:Initial number of Bursts given to ships when they start
All:InitialBrick:0:255:Initial number of Bricks given to ships when they start
All:InitialRocket:0:255:Initial number of Rockets given to ships when they start
All:InitialThor:0:255:Initial number of Thor's Hammers given to ships when they start
All:InitialDecoy:0:255:Initial number of Decoys given to ships when they start
All:InitialPortal:0:255:Initial number of Portals given to ships when they start
All:InitialGuns:0:3:Initial level a ship's guns fire 0=no guns
All:InitialBombs:0:3:Initial level a ship's bombs fire 0=no bombs
All:RepelMax:0:255:Maximum number of Repels allowed in ships
All:BurstMax:0:255:Maximum number of Bursts allowed in ships
All:DecoyMax:0:255:Maximum number of Decoys allowed in ships
All:ThorMax:0:255:Maximum number of Thor's Hammers allowed in ships
All:BrickMax:0:255:Maximum number of Bricks allowed in ships
All:PortalMax:0:255:Maximum number of Portals allowed in ships
All:MaxGuns:0:3:Maximum level a ship's guns can fire 0=no guns
All:MaxBombs:0:3:Maximum level a ship's bombs can fire 0=no bombs
For example in the game we only allow the LEVIATHAN to have lev3 bombs but you can configure your ships any way you wish.
+All:BulletFireEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy it takes a ship to fire a single L1 bullet
+All:BulletSpeed:1:5000:How fast bullets travel
+All:BulletFireDelay:10:32000:delay that ship waits after a bullet is fired until another weapon may be fired (in hundredths of a second)
+All:MultiFireEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy it takes a ship to fire multifire L1 bullets
+All:MultiFireDelay:10:32000:delay that ship waits after a multifire bullet is fired until another weapon may be fired (in hundredths of a second)
+All:MultiFireAngle:0:20000:Angle spread between multi-fire bullets and standard forward firing bullets. (111 = 1 degree, 1000 = 1 ship-rotation-point)
This is a particular favorite of mine. As you can see you can easily make rearward or side firing weapons using this parameter. See the RABBIT zone weasel on Multifire for an example of this. Or you can make a "tight burst" multifire ship by decreasing the angle. Do remember that once one bullet of a multifre hits however all the others are destroyed so you cannot hit a ship with all three bullets at once.
+All:DoubleBarrel:0:1:Whether ships fire with double barrel bullets 0=no 1=yes
+All:BombFireEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy it takes a ship to fire a single bomb
+All:BombFireEnergyUpgrade:0:32000:Extra amount of energy it takes a ship to fire an upgraded bomb. ie. L2 = BombFireEnergy+BombFireEnergyUpgrade
+All:BombThrust:0:2000:Amount of back-thrust you receive when firing a bomb.
+All:BombBounceCount:0:255:Number of times a ship's bombs bounce before they explode on impact
+All:BombSpeed:1:5000:How fast bombs travel
+All:BombFireDelay:10:32000:delay that ship waits after a bomb is fired until another weapon may be fired (in hundredths of a second)
+All:EmpBomb:0:1:Whether ships fire EMP bombs 0=no 1=yes
+All:MaxMines:0:20:Maximum number of mines allowed in ships
+All:SeeMines:0:1:Whether ships see mines on radar 0=no 1=yes
This setting is limited to the weasel in our zones.
+All:LandmineFireEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy it takes a ship to place a single L1 mine
+All:LandmineFireEnergyUpgrade:0:32000:Extra amount of energy it takes to place an upgraded landmine. ie. L2 = LandmineFireEnergy+LandmineFireEnergyUpgrade
+All:LandmineFireDelay:10:32000:delay that ship waits after a mine is fired until another weapon may be fired (in hundredths of a second)
All:ShrapnelMax:0:31:Maximum amount of shrapnel released from a ship's bomb
All:ShrapnelRate:0:31:Amount of additional shrapnel gained by a 'Shrapnel Upgrade' prize.
+All:BurstSpeed:1:8000:How fast the burst shrapnel is for this ship.
+All:BurstShrapnel:1:32:Number of bullets released when a 'Burst' is activated
+All:TurretThrustPenalty:0:24:Amount the ship's thrust is decreased with a turret riding
+All:TurretSpeedPenalty:0:6000:Amount the ship's speed is decreased with a turret riding
+All:TurretLimit:0:6:Number of turrets allowed on a ship.
+All:RocketTime:100:32000:How long a Rocket lasts (in hundredths of a second)
+All:InitialBounty:0:500:Number of 'Greens' given to ships when they start
+All:AttachBounty:0:32000:Bounty required by ships to attach as a turret
+All:AfterburnerEnergy:0:32000:Amount of energy required to have 'Afterburners' activated.
+All:DamageFactor:0:5000:How likely a the ship is to take damamage (ie. lose a prize) (0=special-case-never, 1=extremely likely, 5000=almost never)
+All:PrizeShareLimit:0:32000:Maximum bounty that ships receive Team Prizes
In our zones this limit is et to 100, thus after 100 bounty you no longer receive team prizes, however you may wish to increase this for some ship types to reflect "battle computers" or something J
+All:SuperTime:500:30000:How long Super lasts on the ship (in hundredths of a second)
+All:ShieldsTime:500:30000:How long Shields lasts on the ship (in hundredths of a second)
+All:Gravity:0:20000:How strong of an effect the wormhole has on this ship (0 = none)
You can configure individual ships to be less affected by gravity if you like.
+All:GravityTopSpeed:0:250:Ship are allowed to move faster than their maximum speed while effected by a wormhole. This determines how much faster they can go (0 = no extra speed)
You can change these settings to make different ships handle the soccer ball differently. Perhaps a zone where leviathans can carry the ball a long way but cannot throw it far who team up with warbirds you can pass very fast but cannot carry it for more than 10 seconds etc.
+All:SoccerBallFriction:1:500:Amount the friction on the soccer ball (how quickly it slows down -- higher numbers mean faster slowdown)
+All:SoccerBallProximity:1:200:How close the player must be in order to pick up ball (in pixels)
+All:SoccerBallSpeed:100:8000:Initial speed given to the ball when fired by the carrier.
+All:SoccerThrowTime:200:32000:Time player has to carry soccer ball (in hundredths of a second)