Problems with DoD Mapsettings

[Drek]

What I wanted with this plugin was the two sides, or at least the Allied side, to be paratroopers, not just regular infantry using parachutes. I like my realism and I wasn't prepared to compromise on this. :) I couldn't get the Map Settings plugin to do what I wanted, for the same reason that I couldn't get this one to do what I wanted at first. So I ended up using the Entity Manipulation plugin by Twilight Susuka.

However, in order to get the Entity Manipulation plugin to work, I had to move the FakeMeta module to the top of the list, and uncomment it to take care of a problem with some Steam errors and a crash on client connect. However, when I did that, and when I activated the Paratrooper plugin, I started having the same problem again. This isn't surprising because both the Entity Manipulation and this Paratrooper plugin do the same thing, change map entities. These are the errors I was getting.

steamclient.cpp (371) : Assertion Failed: pClientPipe->BWriteAndReadResult( buf, bufRet )
steamclient.cpp (373) : Assertion Failed: bufRet.TellPut() == ( sizeof(HSteamUser) + sizeof(uint8) )

Now the Paratrooper doesn't use the FakeMeta module to manipulate the map entities, it uses the Engine module for that. So what I did was uncomment the Engine module and move it to the second from the top of the list of modules, just under the FakeMeta module. See this thread (http://www.dodplugins.net/forums/showthread.php?t=294&page=7) for more information. So if you find you are trying to use this plugin, and are experiencing the same errors, try uncommenting the Engine module and putting it at the top of the list of modules, unless you have already had to do the same for the FakeMeta module, in which case you should probably put it second in the list.

[Wilson [29th ID]]

You're doing too much work. dod mapsettings works and will get paratroopers on every map. dod_map_alliesparas 1 i believe is the cvar.

Troubleshoot that - it's a lot less work.

[Drek]

And I'm telling you that it doesn't work the way you intend it to, at least not on my server. I had it set up properly. I've been operating a DOD server, plus servers for more than half a dozen other Half-Life mods, for at least four years. In that time I've successfully set up Admin Mod, AMX, AMX Mod X, and more than half a dozen different bots, not to mention dozens of other Metamod plugins. I've been through dozens of different versions of the adminning mods, Metamod and bots, and hundreds of different versions of plugins. I'm not a newb when it comes to operating a server. I'm definitely a newb at coding for AMXX, but not at operating a Half-Life server of any kind. I realize I'm not perfect and I still make mistakes, but there is a reasonably good chance that if I am telling you something is wrong, there probably is something wrong...

As I said, the cvars for both this plugin, and the map settings plugin, aren't taking effect until the following map. I can work around it with this plugin because the _para.ini file for the map is being read and takes effect on the current map, but it still won't work for the map that the server starts on because the cvars don't take effect until the next map. The map settings plugin is useless to me because the only configuration is through the cvars, and I can't control them on a map by map basis, because, as I said, any cvar changes aren't taking effect until the map changes, or the map is reloaded.

edit: And if I sound like I'm terribly upset, or ungrateful, I'm not. I understand that coders deal with alot of people who know nothing about setting up their products properly, and who don't take the time to read instructions, and even if they do, have reading comprehension issues. I just want you to know that in this case, I am not one of those people.

[Zor]

Ok Drek, I think what may be on the go here is that I ran into something like this with Stripper2 by botman and I had to goto physically reworking the maps myself. Not dynamically doing so. The reason behind this is recently, and for steam and HL1 thats anywhere in the past 6 months....heheh...they updated the HL engine. It now Reloads the map entities dynamically at random intervals on the server...the only thing that I have found that works is Twilight Sukas Stripper2 Amxmodx plugin for stripping the entities as you want. And I haven't used that in months as I just strip my maps myself and upload the new version. So, we need to figure out when the entites are being reset so we can compensate for this within these plugins.

So, plz, do some debugging give us the information and we will attemp to fix the problems as we see them come up.

Cheers!

[Drek]

I think what you are saying may be part of the answer, but what has me stumped is the fact that this plugin works as long as the map is reloaded or there is a map change, and it is only the cvars that aren't registering. The map ini file loads fine for the map and the plugin doesn't need to be reloaded or the map changed afterwards for it to take effect. The map ini file with all its settings loads perfectly, and the lack of the map file also registers as it should. So the entities are being removed and added as they should but for some reason the cvars themselves aren't being registered before this happens. My guess is it is something incredibly simple, but I just don't know enough to figure it out.

[Zor]

I would suggest that this be put into the plugin to make sure that it will work:

1) Drek, you add the following to your amxx.cfg

dod_map_settings 1
dod_map_alliesparas -1
dod_map_axisparas -1
dod_map_alliescountry -1
dod_map_weather 0
dod_map_removeflags 0
dod_map_removetimer 0
dod_map_removemortars 0
dod_map_removespawngun 0

Or somesuch, this has to be what you want as default.

2) Wilson [29th ID] I would add the following into your plugin in your plugin_precache() as the last command:

new configsDir[64], mapname[64]
get_configsdir(configsDir, 63)
get_mapname(mapname, 63)
server_cmd("exec %s/amxx.cfg", configsDir)
server_cmd("exec %s.cfg", mapname)

This will ensure that both the amxx.cfg and the map config fill are run.

Cheers!

[Drek]

I think the solution is simple, but unfortunately not that simple. I tried this with both the map settings and paratrooper plugins, and no effect. I think I posted this somewhere in the old thread, but the cvars are registering. When I put "amxx plugins" and "amxx cvars" into the console, the plugins both show that they are loaded and running, and all the cvars are what they are supposed to be. For some reason the cvars aren't getting to where they need to be when they need to be there. What is odd is that even changing the defaults in the register_cvar commands doesn't do the trick...

I was probably wrong when I said it was something simple... It's probably something incredibly complex that will require thousands of lines of code, and a module and includes written specifically to support these two plugins... /Eeyore

[Zor]

So all you want is to have Paratroops not normal Infantry using the shoots? And this is to happen at the start of the map...you DONT want to do this half way through correct?

Cheers!

[Drek]

What I want, that I don't have right now, is this to work on the first map the server loads when it starts up. I also want to be able to change the cvars using map specific configs (amxmodx/configs/maps) so that I can change the side that uses the chutes if I want as well. In order for that to happen the cvars need to load and take effect with the map change, and not require another map reload, or map change, to take effect.

And actually the plugin that I really care about is the Paratrooper plugin. I can use the Entity Manipulation plugin to switch from normal to para or US to Brit. It isn't as user friendly as the Map Settings plugin would be if it worked as it should, but it does the job. It is significantly more powerful than I need it to be, but that is no big deal. I just modified it ever-so-slightly so that it no longer has the annoying habit of making a stripper2 config file for every map that loads, and it uses the maps folder for the map specific config files.

[Drek]

deleted post - Once again, I don't know what I'm talking about...