[MK] Capture the Flag

Informative Section => News & Announcements => Topic started by: NewK on August 06, 2016, 12:59:27 am

Title: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 06, 2016, 12:59:27 am
Hello everyone, today I'd like to announce a new version of the capture the flag server, CTF 5.0!

Version 4.0 was released 1 year ago, and alot of things in VC:MP have changed since then. There's many new VC:MP features that our current server is not fully making use of, so it's time for an upgrade. The first version of the script was created by X_94 back in 2011. Since then, there's been many iterations of the script and later on, Nilz took on the developer role and has been maintaining the codebase. Thesedays, Murdock aswell has been making big contributions to the script by fixing alot of the bugs with the IRC echo and replacing the old textdraws with labels, among other fixes. After 5 years of re-using the same code, things became harder to mantain, so I decided to took on the developer role aswell and rewrite the server from scratch, and so that's what I've been doing on my free time for the past 5 months. This new version of CTF has been rewritten in Java which gives us alot more flexibility than the old squirrel version. As for Nilz and Murdock, they will both keep contributing to this new script aswell.


The main goal of this public beta test is to detect bugs. After months of testing this version internally with the staff, I feel that the script has finally reached a beta status and it's now ready to be tested by a larger crowd with the purpose of finding new bugs, so please report all of the bugs you can find here on the forum. With that being said I'd like to invite everyone (except those on the banlist) in the community to join in on the fun! In comparison to CTF 4.0, this server has many new features that should  refresh the CTF experience, some of the new features include:

Now, as the name says, this is still in beta, so there will be bugs and not all the features have been implemented yet like arena boundaries, HP addons, Player of round, etc...These will all be done after this beta test. The duration of the test will depend on server stability, if the script is stable enough we'll probably have the test running for a longer period to detect new bugs. If not, it could last a few days like 1 or 2. It will depend on well it goes.

Server IP: 51.254.114.167:8193
IRC Channel: #MK.CTF5

Shortcuts:

Changelog so far:

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Eddy on August 06, 2016, 01:07:02 am
Some pics :)
Selecting arena: -
(http://i64.tinypic.com/1z3nkac.png)

Choosing packs: -
(http://i67.tinypic.com/kdog2u.png)

Flag captured: -
(http://i64.tinypic.com/23r93qe.png)

Points that you contributed to your team: -
(http://i65.tinypic.com/2hi34vm.png)

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 06, 2016, 01:21:51 am
Solutions for the VC:MP mouse cursor bug

There are 2 solutions that fix this issue, until VC:MP devs fix it for good, pick the one of following 2:

Solution 1:
While ingame type: /setconfig game_windowed 1 and then press ALT+ENTER
(this will make the game use the maximum resolution though)

Solution 2:
Download the missing cursor file from: here (http://i.imgur.com/mt3rK6V.png)
Now put that file on C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Vice City Multiplayer\04rel004\images


It seems like this bug has been fixed just now. (http://forum.vc-mp.org/?topic=3503)
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Sevrin on August 07, 2016, 07:27:56 am
I loved the new version much, great work staff. But there was about 3 bugs I'll report them soon. Fixed already :P
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Decent_946 on August 07, 2016, 10:13:01 pm
This mood is much better. It doesn't lag like 4.0. Even though, i have came across several bugs which i am going to report soon. But it is more joyfull as compare to 4.0. Keep the good work up devs. :-]
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: ZUBI on August 08, 2016, 08:17:36 pm
This looks more polished and will be perfect once replaced with the original one

Good Job NewK

(https://i.imgur.com/oVG43Je.gif)
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: raiden on August 08, 2016, 08:24:02 pm
great job newk.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: ELK on August 08, 2016, 08:24:37 pm
Much better then v4.0

This mood is much better. It doesn't lag like 4.0. Even though, i have came across several bugs which i am going to report soon. But it more joyfull as compare to 4.0. Keep the good work up devs. :-]

[MK] CTF 5.0 Public Beta

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 08, 2016, 08:51:19 pm
Thanks for all the tests so far guys, I just posted a changelog (http://ctf.vc-mp.net/index.php?topic=551.msg3200#msg3200) on the first post about all the changes made so far, so check that before reporting new bugs :P
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: krystianoo on August 08, 2016, 09:06:24 pm
This looks more polished and will be perfect once replaced with the original one

Good Job NewK

(https://i.imgur.com/oVG43Je.gif)
is that krzysztof ibisz on the gif?
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: QarZ on August 09, 2016, 12:39:13 am
Great job
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Bart on August 09, 2016, 03:54:58 am
Nice :o
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 10, 2016, 04:32:09 am
10/08/2016
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Sevrin on August 10, 2016, 07:12:07 am
Can you please make the messages of stealing flags, droppin g flags, and recovering as it is not much visible like in 4.0. Maybe a low font announcement on the lower right like when we got the flag message.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Zeeshan.Bhatti on August 10, 2016, 06:58:00 pm
Today I played this and it seems lag free. Great work newk
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 17, 2016, 12:07:16 am
Can you please make the messages of stealing flags, droppin g flags, and recovering as it is not much visible like in 4.0. Maybe a low font announcement on the lower right like when we got the flag message.
I might change it in the future to something more noticeable, but for now that's low priority.


17/08/2016
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 22, 2016, 08:47:41 am
22/08/2016
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on September 05, 2016, 04:07:08 am
05/09/2016

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on September 26, 2016, 03:20:42 am

26/09/2016

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: jN. on September 29, 2016, 01:08:40 am
Nice :o
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: MD619 on December 19, 2016, 06:16:57 am
Thanks Man .
Now we can play without lag ;) its awesome .
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: raiden on December 20, 2016, 01:49:24 pm
Good job guys keep it up ;)
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on January 11, 2017, 09:26:05 pm
Seeing as the current server IP is not announcing to the masterlist and I at the moment I don't have the time to look into it, the server IP has been changed to 51.254.114.167:8193
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on July 11, 2017, 04:04:07 am
11/07/2017


About the flag/barrels teleporting players to another location, I haven't been able to reproduce this issue ever again after restarting the server. I suspect it was a caused by a library the script was using that was managing threads in a way that the VCMP server did not like. I chose to remove said library and replace all the code that was being handled by it, with a more standard implementation. Do let me know though if this issue happens ever again.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: krystianoo on July 11, 2017, 09:45:56 am
Starting a round with /switchedctf still appears to be rather problematic.

A North Mall round was started using it and our blue team was on the Vinyl CDs side (not the GASH side), and after the countdown ended I was teleported to the same spot as a red member.

Edit: Also, either the command doesn't work sometimes because on start we were sometimes at GASH and sometimes at Vinyl CDs or the admins used the wrong command. I think it's the first case though.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: ZUBI on July 11, 2017, 10:30:02 am
Newk about barrel problem i will test it tonight to find out the exact point behind the teleport bug.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: aXXo on July 11, 2017, 09:01:34 pm
I've faced the pickup problem in Squirrel plugin. It is hard to reproduce.
What happens is, when the script creates, removes, recreates pickups frequently their IDs get mixed up internally.

So, when you compare the pickup ID before deciding what to do with the picked event, you are dealt with a wrong ID, which produces a wrong behavior. Sometimes the flag could act like a barrel, teleport or vice versa.

Workaround: Generate a unique ID for the pickup when it is created. On all pickup events, use that unique ID instead of internal pickup IDs.

or, compare pickup's Model instead of it's ID. Since the red/blue flag's model is unique, it would work. However, the problem will persist in case of barrels or teleport pickups.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: krystianoo on July 11, 2017, 10:09:19 pm
I think the barrels are actually different from each other on 5.0
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on July 12, 2017, 12:40:21 am
I've faced the pickup problem in Squirrel plugin. It is hard to reproduce.
What happens is, when the script creates, removes, recreates pickups frequently their IDs get mixed up internally.

So, when you compare the pickup ID before deciding what to do with the picked event, you are dealt with a wrong ID, which produces a wrong behavior. Sometimes the flag could act like a barrel, teleport or vice versa.

Workaround: Generate a unique ID for the pickup when it is created. On all pickup events, use that unique ID instead of internal pickup IDs.

or, compare pickup's Model instead of it's ID. Since the red/blue flag's model is unique, it would work. However, the problem will persist in case of barrels or teleport pickups.
Interesting! If this bug also happens in the Squirrel plugin then that would mean that it's not a bug in the squirrel or the java plugin but in the server itself.

I'm actually already generating a unique "label" string for each pickup and using it to better identify them in several places on the script. For instance, the blue flag pickup has a "blueFlag" label attached to it and the red flag has a "redFlag" label attached  to it, while the barrels also have the "redBarrel" label and the "blueBarrel" label aswell. Portals just have portal1, portal2, portal3, etc...but the onPickupPicked event is the only place on the script that was still comparing the pickup id instead of that label that's attached, so your theory makes sense to me.

I suspect this issue was also amplified as I found out that the library I was using for interthread messaging was messing up some of the VCMP server event callbacks by calling some events multiple times even though the event was only called once. For instance, during the private alpha tests I found out that when I used this library on the OnPlayerKill event, the event would get called 2 or 3 times per kill. Back then I removed that code from the OnPlayerKill event and that fixed the issue, but before last night's update there was still some code left from that library on some events like the OnPickupPicked event, but now with that library completely removed, I doubt we'll have similar problems.

I'll be replacing the line that's comparing the pickup id's with the one that compares the pickup labels instead. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be releasing an update soon.


Starting a round with /switchedctf still appears to be rather problematic.

A North Mall round was started using it and our blue team was on the Vinyl CDs side (not the GASH side), and after the countdown ended I was teleported to the same spot as a red member.
I'm looking into this one. By countdown you mean the loading bar when players are choosing the weps right? Also, are you completely sure that you were teleported to a red team spawnpoint and not to a different blue spawnpoint? Because I've noticed this one happening sometimes.

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Zeeshan.Bhatti on July 12, 2017, 04:36:27 am
Nice improvements. :)
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: ZUBI on July 12, 2017, 08:47:16 am
There is a issue with a barrel still persist, last night i can not able to check it properly due to the severe outage of electricity in my area, i will find out today and report you soon NewK.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: krystianoo on July 12, 2017, 10:59:36 am

Starting a round with /switchedctf still appears to be rather problematic.

A North Mall round was started using it and our blue team was on the Vinyl CDs side (not the GASH side), and after the countdown ended I was teleported to the same spot as a red member.
I'm looking into this one. By countdown you mean the loading bar when players are choosing the weps right? Also, are you completely sure that you were teleported to a red team spawnpoint and not to a different blue spawnpoint? Because I've noticed this one happening sometimes.

Yes, I'm sure. I was teleported to the same place as a red member was, (so we both were teleported to the same spot) near the GASH store.

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on September 10, 2017, 09:13:44 pm

10/09/2017

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: Zeeshan.Bhatti on September 11, 2017, 07:28:51 am
Finally teleportation bug fixed. Thank's newk.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: BliTz on September 11, 2017, 07:54:44 pm
Fixed autostart bug?
When a player is already spawned in the server and when the other team player joins , the voting system starts and it doesn't appear again if one of the player reconnects(in case of lack of players).We need an admin to toggle it on/off again in order to start voting again.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on September 11, 2017, 08:10:55 pm
Fixed autostart bug?
When a player is already spawned in the server and when the other team player joins , the voting system starts and it doesn't appear again if one of the player reconnects(in case of lack of players).We need an admin to toggle it on/off again in order to start voting again.
11/07/2017
  • [IMPROVEMENT] Autostart will now automatically be enabled if all staff members leave the server
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: BliTz on September 12, 2017, 08:45:29 am
It wasn't working on Sunday.i asked Eddy to turn it on,he told me it is already turned on,but there was nothing to vote and no bases were started automatically.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on September 12, 2017, 09:46:57 am
It wasn't working on Sunday.i asked Eddy to turn it on,he told me it is already turned on,but there was nothing to vote and no bases were started automatically.
The player who reconnects must spawn, otherwise the voting window will not show up.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: BliTz on September 12, 2017, 02:43:27 pm
It wasn't working on Sunday.i asked Eddy to turn it on,he told me it is already turned on,but there was nothing to vote and no bases were started automatically.
The player who reconnects must spawn, otherwise the voting window will not show up.
he was spawned and nothing showed up
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on November 02, 2017, 12:20:54 am
02/11/2017

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: MasterOz on November 12, 2017, 08:19:56 am
How to reset windowed command :
/setconfig game_windowed 1 command given above?
Please help..BTW my cursor is still disappeared.
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: krystianoo on November 12, 2017, 02:46:32 pm
How to reset windowed command :
/setconfig game_windowed 1 command given above?
Please help..BTW my cursor is still disappeared.

/setconfig game_windowed 0
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: PANZER24 on November 12, 2017, 03:53:26 pm
Guys, I just want to ask: Is DnW vs Rk the first CW hosted in ctf 5.0???
btw we won all 3 rounds!!!!
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: MasterOz on November 12, 2017, 04:11:28 pm
Guys, I just want to ask: Is DnW vs Rk the first CW hosted in ctf 5.0???
btw we won all 3 rounds!!!!
No we aren't the first...
You can see more matches here:
http://ctf.vc-mp.net/index.php?board=22.0
Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on June 25, 2018, 05:11:57 am
25/06/2018

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on August 29, 2018, 08:46:24 am
29/08/2018

Title: Re: CTF 5.0 Public beta test
Post by: NewK on February 10, 2019, 12:38:04 am

09/02/2019

(https://i.imgur.com/D7T61gx.png)