Showing XP on ScoreBoard

Copied to put in its own thread

Dracos wrote:

On the score bit from what dommi was talking about.

Szlat, is it possible to pull the xp gained onto the scoreboard for each player.

Szlat wrote:

It has been discussed in a thread previously. I can't remember what the outcome was - I'll have a browse later. I think the thread also discussed highlighting players differently in the scoreboard according to their class.
The difficulty is in getting each client to know how much xp has been earned by everybody. Then we would probably require bespoke scoreboards for each of the gametypes. Not a quick job.

greg11 wrote:

I like the highlight by class idea.

As for the xp earned: maybe it would be easier to implement a xp earned per map on the website game query page.

BotFodder wrote:

There's a lot to think about when it comes to "replicating" information that's not already replicated. It can require some *heavy* modifications to code that we leave alone (like, most of the core code of the UT2004RPG mod). Also, it's not always ... predictable ... in it's success or failure (or code reaction to that failure).

Replicating classes shouldn't be too hard, except that as implemented they'd probably require sending a bunch of other information around to each client (like, every other player on the game's skill set). This additional information encompasses a *lot* of data added to an already *fat* stream of data coming to individual clients.

Other servers are likely implementing classes differently than DruidsRPG. If they're not, it'd be interesting to see how their add-ons are replicating data, and what data they're callously throwing around to every other client.

So -

- Your "score" is replicated to everyone else by the UT core
- Your "level" is replicated to everyone by UT2004RPG
- Your XP gain is *not* replicated and handled by UT2004RPG
- Your "class" is really just a "skill" that limits what other skills you can have, and is *not* replicated ... and doing so might actually require that *all* of your skills be replicated (possibly regularly during a map) to every other client in the game

It's a trade off - do you replicate stuff so that you can do ultra-cool things? Or do you hold of replicating unnecessary data so that the game runs smoother for those that might be on slow or questionable links? Would you rather have neat little icons over people's heads or on RADAR? Or would you rather be able to see what weapons you have and all the shots and rocks flying around?

Doing it on the webserver might be easy, but I don't know how high up on Dru's and Shan's list that would be, as it such a modification would be *all* them.

So the thing with XP gain - I've looked at it. If memory serves, the data is not replicated to every client, and to get it to be so would require modifications to UT2004RPG code that can't be fixed inside DruidsRPG - we'd have to redo a bit of code in Mysterial's mod, and until Druid's decided to just combine the two, it ain't going to happen.

Great idea though.

I think trying to trap the xp as it is earned will require changes internally within Mysterial's code as you say, and so isn't on.

However, if we added code server-side that on startup logged the xp for the user, then we can find out how much has been earned server side by subtracting the current xp value from the original value. This I think is easy to do for an individual player.

We then just need to consolidate these individual values into one list, and replicate out to clients say once every 15 secs. That shouldn't put much load on. But it is the tricky bit.

Then create a new Invasion scoreboard that lists the xp for a player. This again might need a mutator to override the existing Invasion scoreboard -unless we tie it into an existing mutator like the RPGKeys one.

If the code for logging the xp difference is put in the ModifyPawn code for each RPGClass, then we could also replicate a class name and/or color.

Szlat wrote:

We then just need to consolidate these individual values into one list, and replicate out to clients say once every 15 secs. That shouldn't put much load on. But it is the tricky bit.

There shouldn't be a need to update any more often than 15 secs unless someone is bored enough to watch the exp increase.

Could a timer be put on the class[eng, am, wm, med] classes to update a replicated inventory that keeps the exp values? If so, couldn't this inventory keep the player class information too.
To be honest, I don't really understand the limitations of replication.

I like this alot. that way it doesn't look like you are a crappy player if you just link someone's turret the whole time. you are being a big benefit and should be recognized for it

greg11 wrote:

To be honest, I don't really understand the limitations of replication.

Join the rest of us

First signs look promising. I have a test version that looks like it is replicating xp back to the client, but I will not know for sure until I do a multiplayer test tonight. But replication has a habit of biting you just when you think you have got around it.

So for each player I am replicating PlayerName, XPGained and a number indicating what class they are. I need the Playername so I can match the xp to the correct row in the scoreboard.

So, on the invasion scoreboard I was thinking of adding an extra column for xp, and then color coding the number according to the class. Perhaps
White - No class or not known
Red - WM
Green - AM
Blue - Medic
Yellow - Engineer.
Any other thoughts anyone?
(At this stage I do not want to get bogged down with fancy graphics like adrenaline pills etc, plus screen space will be a bit limited)

Hey Szlat - remember (or you might not) way back when I was playing with the RADAR and wanted to change the "dots" on RADAR for medics to a + symbol (and maybe play with the color somehow - dunno, white might be a little too much in the radar, red, yellow, or green would be confusing for medics ...)?

Do you think that would be doable now?

Dru - if you are paying attention, and this is doable, you and I might need to touch base about me maybe getting my access into CVS squared away (don't know if you've punted me yet or if I just need to update my IP with you since I've moved, there's been power outages,

I'm using a different ISP now, etc). And if you'd want this attached to a skill of some sort, we'd kinda need to know that, too.

While I kinda got burnt out on UT2004 in general, I think the aneurysm I got from working on replication issues burned me out on coding ... I had to deal with it heavily in a few of the things I did (the exact ones escape me - maybe some kind of brain self preservation thing). Szlat is right though - just when you think you've got it all figured out, it doesn't work as:

planned

advertised

specified by Atari doco
and the game's reaction to this can be ... interesting.

... so I wouldn't start chasing it up too much until I have got a bit further

Off hand though I think the + ought to be possible. The main thing you need is the PlayerName to match up with the data I am passing back, and that should be in the Pawn.PlayerReplicationInfo. And you are already using Pawn to draw the dots.

I'll wait until the rev with your changes goes in and we've seen it played for a bit ... ensuring that everything works (most of the time anyway) as we would prefer it to.

Then I'll drop the + thing in to the next version.

FYI, for those of you who might start jumping up and saying "So and so class should be this instead of a dot" it's not really as easy as it sounds, all things considered. It involves textures and sizing and stuff, and the dot and + symbol are part of the default ones, and easy to do since they're symmetrical shapes.

Still haven't done the multiplayer test, but running a dedicated server and client on one PC worked. I could tell the xp and class of the 7 bots playing with me. Long term I will not have it enabled for bots as who cares what their xp is.

I also did a quick hack to the radar in RPGHUDInvasion, and could color the dots blue, red, green or yellow according to the class of the bots. It looks a mess with all the monster colors as well, but shows it should be possible.

So assuming the multiplayer goes alright tonight, then it looks promising.

Yeah I'd avoid playing too much with colors - it would get confusing quickly since we have a lot of the "basic" colors covered either by monster strength, players, and friendly monsters. But the + symbol should be fairly easy (if I can just remember how I did it way back when).

like the idea, now and ever no medic will hide from me >

and yes i really think a + white would help even more than colors for each class, i mean the only use would be that whenever i see a green dot ( AM player) and dracos is playing then i will run

The Xp thing sounds like its coming along nicely. As you said, it doesnt have to be updated every second. Every 15 to 30s is fine (isnt 30s the autosave time in the RPG anyway).

Edit: Edited out about the colors due to misunderstanding.

Wait wait wait!

I say no change in colors at all. The only thing I'm suggesting is changing the normally blue dots for all players to be a blue cross for player medics (as bot medics are useless). That's it.

Colors on RADAR are already widely varied and mean so many things already - monsters at varying health levels, friendly monsters (little more purple I think), your monsters (green), vehicles with no one in them (white/gray).

Just a minor icon change. I got it working on instant action and for the local host of a listen server game (not dedicated server), and it was quite noticeable.

No more bloomin' colors. There are already enough primary colors used.

And no other classes are really all that needed by the players.

BTW, what do the darn sentinels show up as? Do they show up at all? IIRC, they don't (or turrets show up as white dots when not manned).

BotFodder wrote:

Wait wait wait!

I say no change in colors at all. The only thing I'm suggesting is changing the normally blue dots for all players to be a blue cross for player medics (as bot medics are useless). That's it.

Colors on RADAR are already widely varied and mean so many things already - monsters at varying health levels, friendly monsters (little more purple I think), your monsters (green), vehicles with no one in them (white/gray).

Just a minor icon change. I got it working on instant action and for the local host of a listen server game (not dedicated server), and it was quite noticeable.

No more bloomin' colors. There are already enough primary colors used.

And no other classes are really all that needed by the players.

BTW, what do the darn sentinels show up as? Do they show up at all? IIRC, they don't (or turrets show up as white dots when not manned).

Ah, missunderstood ya then. I don't even fully understand all the current colors. Pretty much if its yellow or red it dead, if its blue, its cool. (Hey I made a rhyme

)

Can we change the default blue to pink for the female players? j/k

Could text be overlayed on the radar instead of icons? Like a 'M' for medic...etc

Ideally overlaying player names would be nice, but could be too much to see. That would be a different thread to start.

As far as the topic goes: Would it be handy to have a exp points per hour also (like PPH but XPH)

greg11 wrote:

As far as the topic goes: Would it be handy to have a exp points per hour also (like PPH but XPH)

Eh, I've never really cared for the PPH values as later waves are always worth more points anyway so late comers would usually have higher PPH's. Really you could take out the PPH value and stick the XP gain value right there. Only problem with that though is if theres several people in the game, the PPH value tends to dissapear with the smaller scoreboard.