Kernel Panic

[ILMTitan]

IANAL, but a. you will not be selling the widget b. the widget is its own source code, and c. you keep a reference to GPL in the top of the widget, I don't think you will have any problems.

[zwzsg]

Kernel Panic 2.1 released!
http://www.unknown-files.net/spring/398 ... _Panic_21/

KP 2.1
- Now resiliant again to archive filename change. (Don't forget to delete the ArchiveCacheV6.txt though.)
- Made the new worm always able to fire, however, it set itself on hold fire when cloacking, and to fire at will when uncloacking.
- Changed "set CLOAKED" to "set WANT_CLOAK" in the new worm
- Added back the old hackers, though not normally available.
- Seperated the hotkeys to deploy new bug, and undeploy the exploit. However, neither can be enqueued yet.
- Fixed the problem the old bug had when turning into mine when firing.
- Added "mine" and "bug" buttons to old bug. So you can enqueue its turning into a mine by shift clicking the button.
- Added widget to bind some KP hotkeys
- Added widget to remove ressources bars
- Added jK "buildbar" widget, edited to fit KP.
- Made decay much faster
- Changed Div0 trojan build effect
- Removed flanking bonus
- Made visible the area of effect of the attack of the Div0 worm

[Jonanin]

Zwzsg and KDR_11k introduced me to Kernel Panic yestersday! I gotta say, very clever and fun mod to play! The graphics are very cool and simple, I really like them.

Keep up the good work :)

[Terminator]

Slt zwsg!! c'est reynald comment va tu? ha oui je maitrise parfaitement wings 3d donc je vais refaire des modèles je posterai des screens bientôt..

[zwzsg]

Salut! Si c'est pour kernel panic, y'a pas vraiment besoin de modèles. Le principe de Kernel Panic c'est de rester simple. Par contre aux alentours je suis sûr qu'il y a plein de mods qui pourraient avoir besoin de tes talents.

Et puis si tu maitrise mieux 3dxMax ou autre que Wings3d, pas de raison de te forcer à changer.


Translation:

Hi it's reynald how are you? Ah yes I perfectly master Wings3D so I'll remake models I'll post screens soon..

Hi! If for Kernel Panic, it doesn't really need new models. The very principle of Kernel Panic is to stay simple. However, if you look around I'm sure there's plenty of other mods that could benefits from your talents.

And if you master more 3dsMax or something else than Wings3D, no reason to change.

[Pxtl]

Kernel Panic 2.1 released!
http://www.unknown-files.net/spring/398 ... _Panic_21/

KP 2.1
- Now resiliant again to archive filename change. (Don't forget to delete the ArchiveCacheV6.txt though.)
- Made the new worm always able to fire, however, it set itself on hold fire when cloacking, and to fire at will when uncloacking.
- Changed "set CLOAKED" to "set WANT_CLOAK" in the new worm
- Added back the old hackers, though not normally available.
- Seperated the hotkeys to deploy new bug, and undeploy the exploit. However, neither can be enqueued yet.
- Fixed the problem the old bug had when turning into mine when firing.
- Added "mine" and "bug" buttons to old bug. So you can enqueue its turning into a mine by shift clicking the button.
- Added widget to bind some KP hotkeys
- Added widget to remove ressources bars
- Added jK "buildbar" widget, edited to fit KP.
- Made decay much faster
- Changed Div0 trojan build effect
- Removed flanking bonus
- Made visible the area of effect of the attack of the Div0 worm

I'm confused, how, exactly, does the worm work now? I haven't tested it yet, but it seems to just be getting more and more confusing. Do you still have to manually turn it "on" if you want it to fire at will, and it will return to "off" a set amount of time later? Why not just use the standard TA behaviour for a cloaked unit, and default it to "hold fire"?

[zwzsg]

Well, I found the old worm inability to fire until you turn it on confusing, and so attempted to make it less confusing.

The worm script perdiodically check the cloackdness status. When it finds the worm just changed from cloacked to not cloacked, it sets itself on fire at will, when it finds it just changed from not cloacked to cloacked, it sets itself to hold fire.

That way, the worm attack anything in sight when not cloacked, and attack only when specifically asked to (= by giving an attack order) when cloacked.

[Pxtl]

Thanks for the info.

Okay, but does it still auto-cloak if left un-cloaked for too long? Or is that behaviour I imagined?

edit: and also, does uncloaking provide any useful features besides fire-at-will? Or is it just that you have to uncloak to get fire-at-will?

[zwzsg]

Well, it wants cloacked when not firing and turned off.

Come to think of it, it might as well want cloacked always, and let the engine do the uncloacking when firing, and I'm not sure there's any point in using an on/off button and "set" commands instead of regular cloacking button.

[Pxtl]

That's my point. Is the whole on/off thing needless micro? Or does it more faster when uncloaked or something? If it's needless micro, it'd be nice to lose it, since the Hacker side is already horrifically hard to manage well, considering the tricky-to-use DOS and the unheard-of "siege tank + longer-ranged does more damage" complexity of the Bugs.

edit: if there is a difference, I can see the point of having an on-off button. Unified interface - if every unit with on/off behaviour uses the on/off button, that's a nice feature. Having a cloak button for unit X and an on/off button for unit Y would be annoying.

[KDR_11k]

Well, it wants cloacked when not firing and turned off.

Come to think of it, it might as well want cloacked always, and let the engine do the uncloacking when firing, and I'm not sure there's any point in using an on/off button and "set" commands instead of regular cloacking button.

The point was to make switching between stealth mode a simple toggle instead of having to select hold fire and tell it to cloak.

Also it used to take ~ half a second to get ready to attack when uncloaking, not that that matters much.

[Pxtl]

So why not have it cloak automatically, and just use hold-fire if you don't want it to blow its cover? Does it move slower while cloaked or something?

[KDR_11k]

That's what happens now, just that once it's revealed you probably want to have it keep attacking. Hold Fire is the default because the worm is practically dead if it uncloaks before it reaches the target just because a stray bit ran by.

It used to move slower when cloaked back in Corruption but that didn't work out well.

[Pxtl]

That's what happens now, just that once it's revealed you probably want to have it keep attacking. Hold Fire is the default because the worm is practically dead if it uncloaks before it reaches the target just because a stray bit ran by.

It used to move slower when cloaked back in Corruption but that didn't work out well.

What does the ON/OFF button actually control, then? Auto-management of the aggression state? That would make sense - if I want to stick the Worm into "Attack" and leave it there, then I'd want to turn off the aggression-auto-management. Alternately, if the worm is engaged in combat and i want to pull it back and hide, I'd turn off the agression-auto-management and set it to "hold fire".

[zwzsg]

The on/off button currently works just like a cloacked button:

Deactivate() {
set WANT_CLOAK to TRUE;
}

Activate() {
set WANT_CLOAK to FALSE;
}

(Ok, maybe like the exact opposite of a cloacked button then, as On=never cloack and Off=cloack if possible.) Its use would be to force your worm to uncloak and prevent it from cloacking again. Which would be a stupid thing to do most of the times. So yeah, you'd better off never use it.

If you want to manually manage the agression state, you can still use the hold fire / return fire / fire at will button, as it's only auto-changed when the worm change cloackedness state: for instance, you might wait till the worm is cloacked, then turn it again on fire at will, so that it travel cloacked until it meets and enemy and then autofire and decloack.

Instead of the default behavior which is, once cloacked, only attack if the player select the worm and right click an enemy.

Also, Spring's official installer now comes with v 2.1 of KP.

[zwzsg]

Sorry for double posting. I thought about making a new small-sized map for KP. Marble Madness gameplay is very good, but it'd be nice to have a little variation. He's a sketch of my idea:
. is for flat and empty
r is for ramp
G is for geovent
; is for kernel (which will be placed over geos)
# is for cliff
The central area is lower than the outer area

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..................GG..................
.;;;;.............GG.............;;;;.
.;GG;............................;GG;.
.;GG;.##########################.;GG;.
.;;;;.#GG....................GG#.;;;;.
......#GG....................GG#......
......#####................#####......
......rrrrr................rrrrr......
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......#GG....................GG#......
.;;;;.#GG....................GG#.;;;;.
.;GG;.##########################.;GG;.
.;GG;............................;GG;.
.;;;;.............GG.............;;;;.
..................GG..................

But then, I counted: Marble Madness has 13 geos.
The above map would have only 8 geos in a 1v1.

So I tried to fit more geo in my design:

Code: Select all

............GG..........GG............
.;;;;.......GG..........GG.......;;;;.
.;GG;............................;GG;.
.;GG;.##########################.;GG;.
.;;;;.#GG.........GG.........GG#.;;;;.
......#GG.........GG.........GG#......
......#####................#####......
......rrrrr................rrrrr......
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......rrrrr................rrrrr......
......rrrrr................rrrrr......
......#####................#####......
......#GG.........GG.........GG#......
.;;;;.#GG.........GG.........GG#.;;;;.
.;GG;.##########################.;GG;.
.;GG;............................;GG;.
.;;;;.......GG..........GG.......;;;;.
............GG..........GG............

This one would have 12 geos in a 1v1. But I don't like how in this design the outer geos are so much closer to the kernels, which make the choice about what to cover first less delicate. (Edit: wtf I'm stupid asm would be able to build the geo in the niche without even having to leave kernel. Need to really rethink that design. Or would thicker cliff just do it?)

Name would be something like "Spooler Buffer" or "Internal Cache".

Also, I'm annoyed by how those designs turned out to be actually little more than Marble Madness with inverted relief, two ramps instead of four, and less geos. I am also worried that by trying to control the flow too much, I end up with a map divided intro three separate stripes, instead of complex interwoven path possibilities.

Kinda stupid to discuss gameplay on maps that do no exist. They are simple enough that I might do them, as only actual game would tell how they'd play. But no promises.

[Pxtl]

Imho, Marble Madness has too many geos for 1v1 anyways. By the time all geos are taken, the map is pure bedlam. 8 is fine.

edit: Perhaps it would be fun to try another theme? I mean, keep the same layout, but break from the "grid graphics" theme of the initial maps. After all, most maps are obviously "system" themed. How about an "evil" themed map? Smooth slopes, faceted shading, etc. Plenty of "hacker" locales you could use - the Botnet, the Zombie Process, the Mod Chip, etc.

Alternately, the PCB map that was made for Spring a long time ago provides another inspiration for a KP setting that isn't just a big grid.

[zwzsg]

Fark, he beat me to it!

[00:35:45] <KDR_11k> http://www.unknown-files.net/spring/400 ... e_PreTest/
[00:35:57] <KDR_11k> If you guys feel like testing go ahead, I'll sleep for now

However, I am progressing well. The mysterious geo bug disappeared just in the nick of time.




Edit: Here's a beta of my map: http://www.unknown-files.net/spring/400 ... r_05_beta/

[KDR_11k]

I've experimented a bit with giving the byte a mine launcher, i.e. a button that launches five mines forward in exchange for 4500HP. I think it's working pretty nicely, can help a lot with killing swarms or worms but of course risks losing the byte.

[zwzsg]

Uploaded to UF. If them minelauncher is too powerful, then you can just disable it in the "Mod options". Also added my own tiny changes, the most important of which is that you can now use a "Bombard" button to make bug move into position, morph into exploit, and fire. Should help getting those exploit used more. Oh and I nerfed worms too.

As for my map, turned out way more cramped than I'd have imagined.

__________________

Played a couple game with the new minelauncher, they were great fun. Love blowing waves of bugs at once. I still lose though. Haven't found the counter to DDoS.

Random pics of 2.1 & 2.2: