Allow joining games without having the mod

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 10 Jun 2007, 04:03

I think this is one of the big factors in people not wanting to try out new mods. If you see a mod in the lobby list and start downloading it theres no guarantee that its gonna be there still when you finish.

For me at least this is what makes getting new mods 10x as inaccessible as maps to try new ones.

Peet · Post by **Peet** » 10 Jun 2007, 05:09

I agree to this wholeheartedly, though it would require some fairly major changes to the way unitsync works.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 10 Jun 2007, 05:43

I think it should bring you to the download rather then allowing people to join the game

DoofesGBMB · Post by **DoofesGBMB** » 10 Jun 2007, 08:54

uhm... just ask the person who opend the game to wait for you?

Warlord Zsinj · Post by **Warlord Zsinj** » 10 Jun 2007, 09:20

I agree with Smoth. When attempting to join a game that you do not have, you should be prompted with the option to download the mod.

It should be the responsibility of the mod creater to provide this link and ensure that it is active.

I know it'd be annoying as hell when I'm hosting alpha and beta testing and people keep barging in on my games. I'm aware I can password it, but eh; the option to download should be provided before you can enter the battleroom, and should only be provided if the download actually exists.

Tobi · Post by **Tobi** » 10 Jun 2007, 11:21

P3374H wrote:I agree to this wholeheartedly, though it would require some fairly major changes to the way unitsync works.

No, unitsync is fine. The server, the protocol and all lobbyclients would need to be modified to support this.

1v0ry_k1ng · Post by **1v0ry_k1ng** » 10 Jun 2007, 12:04

hell no to this idea;
you will get noobs joining games, going afk and taking 50 years to ready up as they have to dl the map and mod.

zwzsg · Post by **zwzsg** » 10 Jun 2007, 12:35

Maps are larger than mods, and people are allowing the join without the map.

And noobs that are AFK for 50 years can be kicked. (Though instead of rudely kicking I think you should talk and explain'n'stuff.)

So yeah I find Ishach's idea good.

And WZ, well, just like you said, use password when you don't want anyone to join.

1v0ry_k1ng · Post by **1v0ry_k1ng** » 10 Jun 2007, 12:38

uhm... just ask the person who opend the game to wait for you?

AF · Post by AF » 10 Jun 2007, 14:32

It could be done without modifications to unitsync or the lobby server. If you join a battle without the mod, disable the ready button and set sync status to bad. When the downloads finished, reload unitsync and check sync again.

Machiosabre · Post by **Machiosabre** » 10 Jun 2007, 14:44

AF wrote:It could be done without modifications to unitsync or the lobby server. If you join a battle without the mod, disable the ready button and set sync status to bad. When the downloads finished, reload unitsync and check sync again.

disabled ready button would be nice for people that don't have the map also

Zoy64 · Post by **Zoy64** » 10 Jun 2007, 21:05

+1 to Ishach's idea

I think you should be able to join a game so you can see the mod or map before you get it.

Some maps dont have pics attached to them, and i think it would be nice to see them ingame.

same thing with mods, i enjoy to see things before i get them

DoofesGBMB · Post by **DoofesGBMB** » 10 Jun 2007, 22:12

to see the mod ingame you need the modfile, or am i wrong?

so if you dont have the modfile you cant "see" the mod as an spectator. All the things like models etc have to be on your hd. You have to load it anyway... same for the map. Picture yes... watching ingame no.

Or did I misundestood what you mean with "same thing with mods, i enjoy to see things before i get them"?

rattle · Post by **rattle** » 10 Jun 2007, 23:15

Tobi wrote:
P3374H wrote:I agree to this wholeheartedly, though it would require some fairly major changes to the way unitsync works.
No, unitsync is fine. The server, the protocol and all lobbyclients would need to be modified to support this.

I kind of doubt this is going to happen anytime soon. It's quite a bit of work.

Zoy64 · Post by **Zoy64** » 10 Jun 2007, 23:32

What i was saying was i think someone should be able to be a silent, non-participating in anyway spectator. You would be able to see it happening, although you couldnt talk or anything.

like, there was a camera floating above the battle, and you saw what the camera saw. and you obviously could move the camera, get it?

Neuralize · Post by **Neuralize** » 11 Jun 2007, 00:37

I've been thinking about this too, but my fear of mob attack prevented me from posting.

plz betalord.

aGorm · Post by **aGorm** » 11 Jun 2007, 11:10

That wouldn't qite work as you need the mod to have all teh models , scripts, ect.

All you could do at best it have some sort of video streming on teh fly, but like anyone will have teh bandwidth for that!

aGorm

1v0ry_k1ng · Post by **1v0ry_k1ng** » 11 Jun 2007, 13:01

if there is a limited about of dev man time id rather it went into netcode than maek feature for noobs

Pxtl · Post by **Pxtl** » 11 Jun 2007, 14:15

zwzsg wrote:Maps are larger than mods, and people are allowing the join without the map.

And noobs that are AFK for 50 years can be kicked. (Though instead of rudely kicking I think you should talk and explain'n'stuff.)

So yeah I find Ishach's idea good.

And WZ, well, just like you said, use password when you don't want anyone to join.

QFT. If the system works (from a user perspective) for maps, there's no reason (from a user perspective again, not technically) that it shouldn't work the same for mods.

AF · Post by AF » 11 Jun 2007, 17:02

On the contrary if you don't have the map your not synced and somethings wrong. Atm it says you are synced when you don't have the map.

imo it not being needed for maps isn't a justification, its a bug, a flaw, and can be an annoyance when you have people ringing you to ready up and you don't have the map or when ppl hold up games saying they're downloading the map.

Ontop of that, new users are just going to join BA games and then get confused when spring says the mod doesn't exist, crap all over themselves, then uninstall spring all annoyed that they spent age trying to get in game to be told it doesn't work.

In testing of aflobby alpha 23, some people found that they could join games they didn't have the mod for just like this feature request, and they reported it as a bug.

This is not a good solution to the problem because it replaces it with that even larger problem I pointed out above.

I would also point out that spectators hould be able to ready up too. They already can in the protocol but the lobby ignores the ready status of spectators, hence why the new lobbies show the team n# and color and ready status of spectators until modified not to, The modification isnt hard, as the whole ready up thing is lobby side, try hosting a game and people joining then set your status to in game via raw protocol command sin $local and everyone goes in game even if they aren't ready.

Ivory King, this is lobby territory not engine territory. Different devs with different abilities, and different code bases. Net code wont be affected by lobby development as they're two different code bases with different dev teams.

Spring RTS Engine

Allow joining games without having the mod

Allow joining games without having the mod