Jailbreak Development

[BenMillard]

More updates, uploaded to the page. Mostly to scripted objects such as CONVEYOR belts. Prison cells now have a basement level, which you can see into and access but nothing spawns down there. (It's just scenery, really.)


(You may need to press F5 to see updated image.)

Have tried out every known GTA2 object and created an array of some useful ones in the storeroom. FIRE will be awesome if I can make some sort of chef's oven. (Might add pictures to that tutorial since I took screenshots of everything I tried.)

[Pyro]

After a lot of discussion and ideas, here's what Ben and I have come up with for the initial cell escape...

1. 2 guards on patrol routes in cells area with arrows (no weapons).
   1. Punch any guard 3 times (do "++ cells_guard_punched")
   2. After 3 punches, give guards pistols, add wanted level to 1 for all players, remove arrows and make Get Out of Jail Free Card (GOOJFC) to represent their key in office and point arrow to it.
   3. Once collected, point arrow to first door.
2. Check for any player at door, play door open sound and update wall to open fake door.
3. Point arrow at 5-8 guards wandering outside in random places (armed with pistols) - set wanted level to 3.
   1. Check for any outside guard being punched 3 times ("++ outdoor_guard_punched")
   2. After 3 punches, make GOOJFC near armoury door and point arrow to it.
   3. Once collected, point arrow to armoury briefcase.
4. Wait for any player at armoury door, open fake door with sound, give walkway guard grenades (starts with pistol only).
5. 5 swat guys in armoury. patrolling swat armed with pistols, standing ones with shotguns.
   1. Final swat guy on patrol with shotgun.
6. Once briefcase collected, point arrow to other 2 briefcases.
   1. Wait for collection of other 2 briefcases.
7. Once done, point arrow to door in football pitch.
   1. Wait for any player then make BOMB object on spot, remove arrow, play "woohoo, yippee!" sound.
   2. Play ticking sound for 3/5 seconds - possibly add onscreen timer?
   3. Ka-boom door! Remove doorway, add $100K and show/play "JOB COMPLETE!" message.

Once this has been added it should be a nice little play test-able level for more things to come

[BenMillard]

Yep, that should enough make it a playable level. It is the first chapter of the story. There are 3 more after that, so it ends up like this:

1. Escape your prison block.
2. Escape the prison boundary.
3. Get to national border.
4. Get across national border.

I've made a lot of texture tweaks and added some outer buildings. Files uploaded to the Jailbreak Preview page. Terrain and buildings are now stable until next weekend because I'm back to full-time work and flat-hunting.

[Pyro]

Alrighty, it seems the punch detection is extremely unreliable for what we want it to do. Using "CHECK_WEAPON_TYPE_HIT_CHAR" with the cell guard name and "BY_PUNCH" does not recognise it from the player. Since player punches can never kill any NPC I don't think it recognises it as it. I'm guessing GTA2 recognises a weapon type if it does damage. By switching it to ANY_FOOT_WEAPON and even UNKNOWN_WEAPON will not work with just punching! Using any other weapon (pistol, shotgun etc) works just fine.

The other method was the CHECK_CHAR_BEEN_PUNCHED and that is also very unreliable. You'd think it counts 1 punch as knocking them down and waiting them to get back up before it recognises another punch, apparently that is not the case. It will detect multiple "punches" even as many as 3+ punch "hits" in one visible punch. If you are turning while punching you seem to do less of these punches (sometimes 1, 2 or more). Not only that, the check needs the player names and will crash if the players are not in game. So, with those two together causing the biggest issues I have come up with a solution...

1. Game starts normally. Cell guards on patrol and arrows are pointed to them.
2. Two NPC inmates on either side of cell block (4 total) will "attack" the guards and steal the key.
3. NPC's run into the office and "drop" the key. Arrow points to the key (one-off GOOJFC).
4. NPC's now wander off, a limited generator for pistol appears (7-12 rounds per spawn every 3-5 seconds, only generated 10-20 times).
5. Wait for a player to pick up key in office, then point arrow to cell door.
6. Wait for a player at door and open the "fake" door (with sound etc).
7. Point arrows to the outer guards and wait for 3-5 (or all) to die. A new key appears at the armoury door.
8. Point arrow to key and wait for any player to pick it up.
9. Point arrow to first armoury briefcase. Armoury door will open when any player is near it.

The rest is the same after that (up to blowing up the door with the bomb). I'll use thread triggers for locating characters in places but the rest of it will be IF's etc.

It's unfortunate the punch thing is unreliable (Gustavob and Sektor will agree with me on this I imagine!)

Edit - I noticed you updated the map and script. I saved the old MIS so I can transfer the character code/patrol points over to the new one.

A few other things:

- The new benches are interesting but NPC's like to do epic jumps over them! I recommend changing that little area to field so they don't actively walk there and do the crazy jumps.
- The church/chapel outside seems to have a tiny patch of pavement where NPC's can spawn, intentional or not? The pavement area is the little mouldy concrete bit on west side.
- What's up with the crazy looking building next to the church/chapel? Another place for inmates or something? Also, I'd remove those shadows on the diagonal bits, look rather weird!
- The road in NE section, is that the access road? I thought it was going to be a dirt track?
- Noticed you added a tall fence with barbed-wire in the bottom section and stops at the mountain/rock face. Are you going to continue the fence along this rock face?
- Similar to above but, guard towers? Any thoughts on where to place them? My suggestion was one at every fence corner piece and another 7-10 blocks away from each other. Perhaps they have their own gantry so we could have (technically useless) police officers on patrol up there?
- The left-most conveyor in storage area (north of benches) has a conveyor animation tile rotated the wrong way. It is running downwards but the conveyor takes you up.
- The doorway into the gym area with the prison sign the left part is missing since there is a new air conditioning unit there!

I know a lot still to come but just firing off the ideas/suggestions

[BenMillard]

If the counting is unreliable, no worries. We'll just give the key after the first punch detected from any player (or the 10th or whatever). If you have to beat the guards up by a somewhat random amount, because of detection bugs, then all the better!

We can turn bugs into features. Don't turn GTA2 into some boring RPG where you watch NPCs do the mission for you. (Might be worth taking out the inmate helpers until we can stop them shooting other players, too. There's hardly any law enforcement to warrant their help for this Chapter 1 preview.)

Map Feedback
I'm not touching the terrain again until this weekend, at the earliest. I'll probably wait until you've got testable code and I don't mind when that is.

1. I found the long jumps funny. A skilled player can do perpetual jump. Punched/scared NPCs will go there either way. Might change after widespread play-testing but not at this stage.
2. Most of the outer area will be populated. For now it's experimental terrain, generic surface type for simpler changes.
3. It's an experimental placeholder for another cell block fitted into natural contours. It will change massively, perhaps be a level higher or across a slope. All overheads might become straight as 45° overhangs don't get arrows.
4. Can't add barbed wire to 45° walls and want to let players get up close to it for the daunting perspective. Could lower the top by 1 level and run a fence across. (As a defence to stop any help from outside.)
5. I'm skipping big fiddly stuff in areas likely to change a lot. Each towers will have a grenadier on top. Might be platforms on stilts rather than traditional towers.
6. That's a bug, please correct.
7. That's a bug, please correct.

Just to be clear, this is my level. Your help is greatly appreciated but be under no illusions who has final say.

[Pyro]

If the counting is unreliable, no worries. We'll just give the key after the first punch detected from any player (or the 10th or whatever). If you have to beat the guards up by a somewhat random amount, because of detection bugs, then all the better!

The counting is extremely unreliable. Even using the code that only partially works you need at least 6 separate script files for it to work, and as you should know, more script files more things can go wrong and try and keep them the same. It's not worth the hassle dealing with partially working stuff that is unreliable with that so worth thinking of something, anything else. See next point.

We can turn bugs into features. Don't turn GTA2 into some boring RPG where you watch NPCs do the mission for you. (Might be worth taking out the inmate helpers until we can stop them shooting other players, too. There's hardly any law enforcement to warrant their help for this Chapter 1 preview.)

My example was just a suggestion, nothing more. Again, bugs, especially in GTA2, are way too picky and I'd rather see something else that works than something that only works half the time (or less). Keeping a single script for all makes life easier for all, both players and developers.

As for the phones, I still haven't found any other way of stopping them shooting other players so my code for these phones may just end up as a useful substitute for normal free for all death-match type games. It seems the logic behind group members for players is they share similar code to instant gangs. Since you could never set a threat search/reaction and objective for the player the group members technically have none of them either. Giving an NPC a group will make the followers share his threat search/reaction and objectives. Also since you can't add players to gangs (the game just seems to ignore it) there are no other options left to try.

I'm not touching the terrain again until this weekend, at the earliest. I'll probably wait until you've got testable code and I don't mind when that is.

Of course. Until something sensible can be done about the start bit of the "mission" then the rest can't fall into place.

It's a shame that player punching does zero damage to NPC's otherwise the CHECK_HIT_TYPE_CHAR would have worked perfectly (you only need to call that once for the character being hit from any source, be it one player or a hundred NPC's shooting). Using the HAS_CHAR_BEEN_PUNCHED etc needs to be called 6 times (for each player) for just 1 character. Considering there are 2 guards at the start and at least 8 in the outer area, that's at least 60 checks being done! And as explained earlier you'd need each of them in their own script file otherwise it will crash.

In short, I'd like to see something else done instead of the unreliable punching. My idea was just one of them, others could include an inside man/bent cop, going to the office and collecting/doing something to unlock the key etc.

Map stuff...

I'll wait for you to change the map stuff as you know what you want. Easy and small enough changes anyway and not game breaking.

Just to be clear, this is my level. Your help is greatly appreciated but be under no illusions who has final say.

Indeed, and I am mentioning what is possible or not after a lot of testing and experimenting and offering substitutes/alternatives.

[Sektor]

You can check if players exist, so you can keep it all in one script.

IF (CHECK_CHARACTER_HEALTH(p3, 0))
DO_NOWT // player 3 exists
ENDIF

Punch detection is unreliable but the punch would be detected eventually, so it could still be used to get a key.

[Pyro]

You can check if players exist, so you can keep it all in one script.

IF (CHECK_CHARACTER_HEALTH(p3, 0))
DO_NOWT // player 3 exists
ENDIF

Punch detection is unreliable but the punch would be detected eventually, so it could still be used to get a key.

Interesting bit of code, I always thought it would crash myself. I'm assuming that check sees if a character/player is equal to or greater than 0 health? Still, that's a lot of lines of code in the while loop. Right now there are 2 cell guards and 8 outer guards but I could reduce the outer guards to 3-5 or something sensible. At the very least keep the while loop a bit lighter as god knows what else will be coming. As far as I know, the cell guards and outer guards will be the only ones need punching before the player(s) have access to some weapons.

Thanks for the code, I'll try it out later.

Edit: Thanks to the above script and some lateral thinking I've managed to get a slightly more reliable method for punching by making it go through a GOSUB and then adding to a counter (stores up to 3) and then throwing in a deliberate 2 second delay. This might cause problems as both cell guards are linked to this one GOSUB. Still, it's 2 guards waiting for up to 3 punches so it's over pretty quickly.

[BenMillard]

Sorry if my message on 28th June 2010 seemed excessively rude. Seeing the gameplay we had carefully specified fundamentally change and be presented back to me as a "solution" was SHOCKING! (Not even time to take a screenie of that multiplayer message...)

The player presence check Sektor presented is an innovation which was discovered after you left modding, IIRC. It's used in a few levels, cage.mis from MultiSlayer being one of my own. Pure Zooka Arena is the first playable level I recall seeing it in, which I think Sektor scripted.

I'd like everything in Jailbreak scripting to be robust for when a player leaves the game, as well as players not being present at the start. (Players sometimes time out at the start, which the script engines treats the same as leaving the game normally.) The player presence check works for both situations if used in the right places.

I'd like to test both punching options in single player and multiplayer with you. Many levels have oodles of messy code running at the same time and perform adequately in 11.3, although they tended to desync earlier versions. (Yay Vike!) Unreliable punch detection may be creating a natural effect - or it may be dumb and frustrating. I'd have to test it for myself to make that call.

Saturday and afternoon-evening and here-and-there during Sunday I might be available and in GH. (Depends if I do more flat viewings at the weekend.)

[Pyro]

It's OK I'm not going to be offended over such a trivial thing, I've had a lot worse

It is fortunate now since Sektor shed light on the if the player "exists" that I managed to be able to step back and look at the code and see what I could do. I never used GOSUBS before I left modding and didn't realise how powerful they can be. Since the punch thing is somewhat working then the other punching outer guards should be just as straight forward Here's what I currently have to make it work:

Code: Select all

COUNTER cell_guards_punched = 0 // waits for at least 3 punches on any cell guard
COUNTER punched_cell_guards = 0 // has player(s) finished punching cell guards?
COUNTER got_cell_key = 0 // has cell key been collected?
COUNTER opened_cell_door = 0 // has cell door been opened?

FORWARD cell_guard_punched:

cell_guard_punched:
++ cell_guards_punched
ADD_SCORE ( p1 , 1 )
ADD_SCORE ( p2 , 1 )
DELAY_HERE ( 60 ) // wait 2 seconds before next punch - makes it more accurate
RETURN

  IF ( CHECK_CHARACTER_HEALTH ( p1 , 0 ) )
    IF ( ( ( CHECK_CHAR_BEEN_PUNCHED_BY ( cell_guard1 , p1 ) )
    AND ( punched_cell_guards = 0 ) )
    AND ( NOT ( cell_guards_punched = 3 ) ) )
    GOSUB cell_guard_punched:
    ENDIF
  ENDIF 

The IF check checks for player 1 hitting cell_guard1 and there is another for cell_guard2. After that it goes to checking player 2 on cell_guard 1 and cell_guard2. The 2 second delay is the time a punched character is on the floor and gets back up again.

I'm thinking to cut down on IF's for the outer guard punching (8 guards currently) could reduce that to 4 or 5 or so guards, but I have another idea to that:

In the WHILE_EXEC loop it's set to loop = 1 right? And then it does all the jazz inside there. What I'm thinking is try and make each "chapter" inside it's own WHILE_EXEC loop. So for the cell escape part, the loop is equal to 1 and only executes that code. Once the bomb is planted then the loop equals 2 and put in a new WHILE_EXEC loop where loop = 2 and the next "chapter" starts (the escape etc). My theory is that it should only look inside one WHILE_EXEC loop at a time. Hell if it works you could label the counter "loop" to "chapter" or something, and if there are 4 or so chapters there could be 4 of those loops.

The first part should be ready by the weekend (up to and including blowing the prison gates with the bomb - I'll probably use a mix of EXPLODE and EXPLODE_WALL to see if I can get cool effects). For now the code I have just has 2 players but properly annotated so it should be a copy and paste job for the other players. If things need to be changed easier dealing with 2 players set of code than 6

[Pyro]

That reminds me, remember when you said you'd like to use the "rubble" from ste.sty for a wrecked/bombed building? Well, I decided to do that mission in GTA2 and took a screenshot of it:

ste-rubble.jpg (64.51 KiB) Viewed 38366 times

Doesn't do much on it's own right? Well, I decided to go one step further and actually piece together the different tiles from the map editor and create it. Grab it here:

ste-rubble.7z

(929 Bytes) Downloaded 921 times

The wreck itself is a 4x5 space and I added the intact building that gets blown up next to it for comparison. Just so you know, there seems to be slight texture difference on the tiles - the wrecked tiles seem, ironically, 'cleaner' and lighter than the tiles with the rusted/weathered edging on it (which is slightly darker). Either way, a lot of CHANGE_BLOCK commands to do just that, luckily it's "just" a square building! If you find it useful for something that's cool, and should be easy enough rotating it if you need to

PS - Spent most of this week getting over some crazy summer cold type nasty stuff (sore throat, coughing, sneezing, muscle ache - all the fun stuff really) but should have the first "chapter" done by the weekend to test on if you are around.

jailbreak-update.7z

(11.1 KiB) Downloaded 946 times

[BenMillard]

Yep, I envisioned each "chapter" being in it's own loop. Meant to write a forum entry explaining how each chapter would immediately "fall through" to the next one by simply raising the COUNTER being used by the WHILE_EXEC.

So we could rename loop to be stage. Have a vague feeling DeCon Labs does something like this...ah yes:

Code: Select all

// Stage 1
[stage 1 setup goes here]
WHILE (stage = 1)
 ...
ENDWHILE

// Stage 2
[stage 2 setup goes here]
WHILE (stage = 1)
 ...
ENDWHILE

[other stages go here]

// Mission Complete!
...

Great minds thinking alike - again!

Noticed the code to fake doors is 5 lines per 2-block door, 3 lines for 1-block door, including the CREATE_SOUND:

Code: Select all

// Open all doors from respawn to inner complex:
door2_sound = CREATE_SOUND (22.0,247.0,2.0) GARAGE_OPEN PLAY_INSTANT END
CHANGE_BLOCK SIDE (21,247,2) TOP NOT_WALL NOT_BULLET FLAT NOT_FLIP 000 935 
CHANGE_BLOCK SIDE (22,247,2) TOP NOT_WALL NOT_BULLET FLAT NOT_FLIP 000 935  
CHANGE_BLOCK SIDE (21,247,2) BOTTOM NOT_WALL NOT_BULLET FLAT NOT_FLIP 000 935 
CHANGE_BLOCK SIDE (22,247,2) BOTTOM NOT_WALL NOT_BULLET FLAT NOT_FLIP 000 935  
door3_sound = CREATE_SOUND (12.5,243.0,2.0) GARAGE_OPEN PLAY_INSTANT END
CHANGE_BLOCK SIDE (12,243,2) TOP NOT_WALL NOT_BULLET FLAT NOT_FLIP 000 935 
CHANGE_BLOCK SIDE (12,243,2) BOTTOM NOT_WALL NOT_BULLET FLAT NOT_FLIP 000 935 

We only change each door once though, so that's fine.

Great idea to screenshot the debris! There are destroyed Redneck textures as well but they seem to tessellate quite easily. I'm still thinking of making a permanently burnt-out and/or riot-damaged outer building for the prison. Maybe a tornado-ruined desert town, in addition to the functioning one(s).

[BenMillard]

Time for a new screenshot! This is the entrance to the outer prison complex with the rest of it in the background. Taken with TM's Map Viewer, naturally:


Pyro has been making stellar progress with the scripting! First chapter is playable and will receive quite a few refinements before we call it complete.

So I have updated the Jailbreak Preview files. Includes fairly stable first chapter preview and all the terrain in the screenshot.

[Pyro]

A little update:

Changed the Elvis stage to be slightly larger, screenies below:

General view. Stage has been expanded. The stage lighting is done by using a 6x2 tiles on a medium (2-tile) slope, more obvious in second picture.

Side angle view of stage. Slope to get up to stage and also access to the little enclosed area (without jumping) in the middle (aligned with the stage entrance). For some reason TM's map viewer doesn't seem to render the flat tiles in the back. Perhaps there might be a bonus pickup or something in there at some point, who knows? I'll add some Elvis guys on stage as well as some benches around the stage area when it's been finalised in design and placement. *dons best Elvis voice* "Thank-you very much!" Either way this can get changed again to what's needed and space etc.

Still a few little things in the script to update as well as getting a (semi) working passenger script working. Will be along the lines of if P1 is in car X AND P2 is on-screen AND has no weapon equipped (just fists) AND P1 presses car horn, P2 enter as passenger of car X. That's the plan anyway

[BenMillard]

Dude, that is awesome!

1. Please flip the West mural so they both face into the stage.
2. I take it the North faces of the mural are normal wood, so it's only shown to the South?
3. Extend the West and East ends of the mural's wall thickness to the ground. Or create a quarter-width wall either side and apply the 45° metal frame, perhaps?
4. Please change the lighting supports so the spacing is 2:2:2 instead of 3:3. (It's all in thirds and 2-block units except for this bit.)
5. Please put lights across the whole front edge of the lighting support.
6. A quarter-width wall 1 block wide might look like a stack of speakers and amplifiers, placed near the back of the stage?
7. Backstage area could be how you get into the deliveries build to destroy the conveyor doors for faster gameplay after respawning.
8. Please drop the access road to ground level and make it dirt until the Northernmost block.

Like you say, I'll probably push the stage further East so there would be a good sized flat area for the crowd of inmates. It was a cool first version and the revisions are exceeding my expectations!

[Pyro]

Please flip the West mural so they both face into the stage.

Done! I actually forgot to flip the west side one

I take it the North faces of the mural are normal wood, so it's only shown to the South?

Yes they are

Extend the West and East ends of the mural's wall thickness to the ground. Or create a quarter-width wall either side and apply the 45° metal frame, perhaps?

Done - added the extra wooden "end" bits. These are still set to "None" in the collision settings.

Please change the lighting supports so the spacing is 2:2:2 instead of 3:3. (It's all in thirds and 2-block units except for this bit.)

Done!

Please put lights across the whole front edge of the lighting support.

It's a pity the lights from wil.sty aren't in this, the double width lights (actually, one tile only showed half a light, thus good for 2 blocks). These lights are better than the long, thin lights for lamp posts etc.

A quarter-width wall 1 block wide might look like a stack of speakers and amplifiers, placed near the back of the stage?

Had a look around and no tile(s) spring to mind for using as a speaker system, although tiles 490 and 491 kind of look like futuristic/modern style speakers (they are actually used in the Zaibatsu Village as struts for buildings I think!) and they caught my eye. Not sure if you like them though but since it's an odd shape we wouldn't be able to do a thin block with it.

Backstage area could be how you get into the deliveries build to destroy the conveyor doors for faster gameplay after respawning.

Interesting idea - the backstage area can easily be changed once it is in a more suitable position.

Please drop the access road to ground level and make it dirt until the Northernmost block.

Done - added a little extra detail for the dirt/sand road next to the stage, although this is just temporary as it will inevitably get moved! Also, the curved dirt to grass bits now tessellate properly

Like you say, I'll probably push the stage further East so there would be a good sized flat area for the crowd of inmates. It was a cool first version and the revisions are exceeding my expectations!

Ha, like most things when an idea comes to fruition!

And now for the screenies:

Head-on view.

Side view.

[BenMillard]

Ownage.

Could you try a player passenger script for a dark blue or grey Box Truck? I might be able to test on Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon.

[BenMillard]

I've updated the files on the website. Caught up with Pyro briefly on Friday evening then decided to develop the map further.

Added 2 vehicles to script, would like those to be merged in.

[Pyro]

Hi there, sorry I wasn't around on the weekend to talk to you about this so I haven't fallen off the edge of the planet! Got a few points that I'll explain now:

Most of the changes are pretty straight forward (such as removing the 1-second delays for updating objectives/arrows and the excessive delay after the bomb blows up for example) and added the vehicles from your script (the firetruck and the medicar) and downloaded the map update (and I re-added the Elvis stage back near the road for now until a more suitable location can be found - easy to cut and paste where needed!). Done this and other little updates but a few things are still being, how can I say, somewhat annoying...

Since I noticed in the new map update you updated the collision info on the doors (to solid), that actually had no effect on the SWAT guys, and still no real luck finding a balance between the extremes of running out the door, guns blazing and the other being extremely easy to run by (you can jump over the guards and they won't fire). So, not to be out-done I decided to look up one of the Zaibatsu missions in bil (2nd hard mission, stealing the tank from army base) which is pretty similar to the scenario for the armoury we have (it has patrolling guys and people who guard spot).

But, the biggest difference I see is not the occupation type (criminal, SWAT, police etc), threat search, objectives etc but they are added to the "mad gang" in the 3rd city (which has -5 respect to the player) and seems to work well. The fake army guys will properly break off their patrol and shoot the player, while our folks will do the above (charge at you, guns blazing) or try and go towards you to shoot but they stop and try again (almost like jittering). If you want, I can make a new gang zone for the law enforcement on the map. Effectively it can be a 1x1 gang zone which does nothing other than to allow them to join the gang and, hopefully, work properly. If you are still wanting a fake army gang this could be an excuse to add them to it for the purpose of attacking the players (although as I mentioned before, the fake army would get shot by police/FBI etc). Let me know if you want me to try this method out.

Next up is our friendly grenadier friends on the gantry. I've set it that when the armoury door opens that they receive grenades and an updated objective, threat search etc but they are somewhat unreliable. Sometimes, despite having a clear line of sight, they will just stand there and if you move they will angle themselves to where the player is. After that, they will throw grenades after you move again in which is most strange. Again, this might have something to do with not being in a gang (an example would be your molotov throwers in your army base mission) or even with just using grenades (although I thought grenades were unreliable in multiplayer for desyncs etc?). I'm hoping that even with their occupation set to POLICE and then adding them to a gang which is -5 to the player should help (likewise to armoury guards, and actually all other scripted police/SWAT/FBI guys including cell guards and outer cell guards).

I have a (very) basic player car passenger script but this can only be tested when we catch up and try it out, although I suggest limiting it to who can get in what car (trying to fit 5 other possible players in a 2-seater car for example, unless it was a Van/Bus etc). The way I have it set up is to check if player 1 is in any car and if P2 is not carrying a weapon and then P1 presses horn and then enter. There might be a problem using the IS_ITEM_ONSCREEN for the players though for this check but we'll have to see.

Unlike the car respawn script it checks if something is NOT on-screen and then removes wrecks etc, you can't do a check to see if P2 is on P1's screen. Checking for a player on-screen will always be true no matter where he is (any player in game counts as a player being on-screen), and the flip side of checking if the car is on-screen will always return true (this is a car passenger script after-all!). All in all, the IS_ITEM_ONSCREEN for this is completely useless for a multiplayer car sharing script. While that can be skipped out and the rest of the car script (should) work but will make the passenger try and enter the car from anywhere on the map, which is undesirable. This might end up as a case of "good in theory but not in practice". Like you said, I also want to avoid using the electro-baton as a toggle, but as we suggested checking for no weapon could mean the other player presses the horn of a car miles away and they will run to it. If they had another weapon that problem fixes itself (mostly) but if you die and respawn you have no weapons, and someone could, in theory, hold the horn of the car indefinitely. A tricky situation! I will more than likely leave this out for now.

Those are the main scripting points I wanted to point out. I'll fix some remaining stuff (such as moving the cell guards from the ground floor to the middle and/or top floor and make outer guards wander around etc) but I'll wait for you to reply saying if you want me to try out the gang idea for the scripted law enforcement, just in case. I've added two Stingrays outside the prison doors by the church for testing like you said. Also, I've noticed that when you exit the prison completely (over the bridge) there is always an FBI roadblock on the other side! This is 2 FBI cars and 2 FBI blokes standing there waiting. Of course, when the time comes I'm sure we'll have a proper "defence" of the bridge! Also like to say that the tunnel in the north on the highway is nicely done for its early stage design! However, the bridge over the waterfall is a little "boring" with its constant railings and stuff. Even though this is probably an early design or a filler, maybe change it so it's either a suspension bridge or something else (such as adding a support column in the middle?). I'm sure they will change but just throwing in my 2-cents!

Sorry for the threadnaught but I hope I covered what I wanted to say (probably forgot some stuff). Maybe see you on GH on the weekend for testing?

TL;DR Version:

- Lots of small fixes done.
- Need to make a gang that hates the player and add cell guards/armoury guards to test the amroury guards etc attack properly.
- Grenadier police officers on gantry have some issues, but could be solved with adding them to a gang.
- Car sharing script extremely unreliable and will be left out for now.
- Other suggestions/fixes for map etc.

Edit:

Decided to add the gang ("lawgang" set to -5 to players) and added the armoury guards to it. They are slightly improved than before but not great. A downside is if they follow you out of the armoury the will attack the prison gang Likewise, I added the grenade throwing guards to the gang but they switch between the player and the prison gang to throw grenades at! No noticeable improvement though in how and when they throw grenades though.

[BenMillard]

Thanks for the status update. Please make backups and just try stuff out. Use whatever techniques work to match the gameplay we've designed.

Since I noticed in the new map update you updated the collision info on the doors (to solid), that actually had no effect on the SWAT guys.

We already knew that would be the case. The doors cannot be solid once they are open. (It's a different tile.)

The fake army guys will properly break off their patrol and shoot the player, while our folks will do the above (charge at you, guns blazing) or try and go towards you to shoot but they stop and try again (almost like jittering).

All soldiers in Army Base used to be fake. Worked well since the area is enclosed with no police. Much lower density of shooters.

Is it too risky to add per-area maximum wanted level per player? Tank roadblocks can spawn on roads quite far away, when I made Army Base.

Next up is our friendly grenadier friends on the gantry. [...] they are somewhat unreliable. Again, this might have something to do with not being in a gang (an example would be your molotov throwers in your army base mission) or even with just using grenades.

Do they work better when throwing molotovs? Please just try stuff out.

I thought grenades were unreliable in multiplayer for desyncs etc?

Rapidly spamming them (which AI cannot do) was sometimes unreliable in original GTA2 versions. Vike's v11.3 seems to have fixed this.

[...] player car passenger script [...] I suggest limiting it to who can get in what car.

It's just the respawning Box Truck(s) from the Prison.

[...] if player 1 is in any car and if P2 is not carrying a weapon and then P1 presses horn and then enter.

That's adequate for now.

[...]the flip side of checking if the car is on-screen will always return true (this is a car passenger script after-all!).

To prevent players being ordered into distant vehicles is the purpose of IS_ITEM_ONSCREEN. Once they are inside the vehicle that check is finished.

[...] moving the cell guards from the ground floor to the middle and/or top floor and make outer guards wander around [...]

Sooner the better. These changes are fundamental to the gameplay.

I've noticed that when you exit the prison completely (over the bridge) there is always an FBI roadblock on the other side! This is 2 FBI cars and 2 FBI blokes standing there waiting.

I sometimes get ambushed in the car park by a police roadblock, if I sneak out before triggering FBI level. It's good but will be improved on.

Creating a fake roadblock probably means natural cops should not spawn in that area, as they'll shoot each other? We can cross that bridge when we come to it. ("Bazinga!")

Also like to say that the tunnel in the north on the highway is nicely done for its early stage design!

Thanks, needs lots of detailing but I remembered GTA3 blocked some exits by using a tunnel.

However, the bridge over the waterfall is a little "boring" [...] change it so it's either a suspension bridge or [...] adding a support column in the middle?

It is indeed filler. The reservoir will have a natural rocky edge and the dam itself will be fairly narrow, in a gorge like the Hoover Dam. This will be towards the East coast.

So the freeway will mostly be coastal but on land. I might have an island or something which it bridges onto and across before being incorporated into the dam wall. A bit like Nixon Island in GTA1, but you'll have access on and off it.

Maybe see you on GH on the weekend for testing?

Hopefully. Still flat-hunting and doing a round of updates for my local school. Plus my sister is staying over as she's ill and the weather is great for cycling. We'll see.

Decided to add the gang ("lawgang" set to -5 to players) and added the armoury guards to it. They are slightly improved than before but not great. A downside is if they follow you out of the armoury the will attack the prison gang Likewise, I added the grenade throwing guards to the gang but they switch between the player and the prison gang to throw grenades at! No noticeable improvement though in how and when they throw grenades though.

Thanks for trying out some options. With imagination and flexibility I'm sure we'll find a reasonable way of doing this stuff.