reserved private slots?

[handgrenade]

Hey all,

Is it possible to reserver only a few player slots in UT2003/4? I would like to be able to have a 26 player server with 4 reserved slots that require a password. I've looked carefully through the UT2004.ini and this forum, but I cant find any guides for this. Is it possible?

Thanks again.

HG

[Bry]

Nope its not possible

[handgrenade]

:angry: well, that seems surprisingly 'budget' from a game that is ptherwise extremely well done. Are there any mods or hacks that allow this? Any way around this limitation?

I ask because my clan would like me to run the game (we have 100 active members), but I need to have some spacve held for them or they arent going to be able to get in (I will run Onslaught on a dual-xeon so its probably going to be packed).

HG

[Bry]

Nope unfortunately it has never been included by EPIC. Remember not even valve (cs team) have included it in cs but it was added my adminmod/amxmod. Unfortunately, there has never been a reserved slot/private slot system made for any of the Unreal based games

[Cirr]

Hi,

I've written a small extension to UT2004 which adds 'reserved slots' functionality, but I didn't have much chance testing it very thoroughly yet. If you or someone else would like to try it:
http://x0z.de/reservedslots.zip
A readme.txt explaining installation and configuration is included. If you have any trouble getting it to run or if you find a bug, please tell me about it.

[Bry]

sounds good if only i had my copy so i could test it

[beren]

OMFG! I was just going to do this when I got home tonight! You rock!

Ok, so my enthusiasm for writing my own extension was going to be tempered by my utter lack of knowledge about the Unreal Engine and it's editors, but I am a perl/web developer that has written several authen/authz schemes and was hoping I could pick it up.

Is this module/extension viewable in the Unreal Editor so I can see how/what you did?

I'm SFP! (So Fucking Pumped!)

Beren

[Cirr]

You can see the class by adding
[code:1:1a97aab529]EditPackages=ReservedSlots[/code:1:1a97aab529]
to the section [Editor.EditorEngine] in your UT2004.ini.
Then you can find it in the Unreal Editor under Object->Actor->Info->AccessControl->ReservedSlots.
I didn't comment it, but it's rather short (just over one screen) and self-explanatory, so you should have no trouble understanding it.

[beren]

If I were a Metro or Homo Sexual, I would kiss you. But I'm not, so how bout a hearty "You R0XX0rs!" and I'll buy you a beer (or other Adult Beverage of your choice), providing you are 21 the next time you are in Louisville, KY.

[Fatty]

Please post back if it works.

[beren]

I'm not off work for another hour and a half, and then I've got 2 sick kids at home to take care of. I guarantee I'll try it this weekend, though!

[Cirr]

Ok, sorry about that. The first version probably didn't work for anybody except me.
I needed to change the way it works; now it kicks a in at e.g. 18/20 when you set MaxPlayers to 20 and NumSlots to 2, instead of the previous 20/20 up to 22/20.
The new version can be found at:
http://x0z.de/ReservedSlots101.zip

It's not enough to simply overwrite the old file. Please read the readme.txt.

[beren]

Not complaining, but the behaviour that you fixed is how I would have expected it to work. If I advertise a 20 player server, I would want 20 public players on it. If I have 4 reserved slots, I would want it to kick in at 20, not 16.

Caveat: I am coming from a RTCW:ET background, where it is common to see servers with 23/20 listed as the server population. I'll work on making it a configurable option if you don't want to.

I just know that with 8 reserved slots (the people in my clan who shell out the $$), we'd have to advertise a 24 player server, and then have people complain when it filled up at 16, rather than advertise a 16 player server, and have the reserved folk connect on top of that.

Either way, it beats not having it at all!

[Cirr]

The problem with this is the following:
When the client sees that the server is full, it seems as if it doesn't even try to connect anymore, so the server has no chance of saying "Wait, give me the password and I will still let you in."
I must have made some mistake when testing it before; it seemed that the client asked the server regardless of it being full. Unfortunately, this actually doesn't seem to be the case.
From what I've seen now, it looks like the client would also need to be modified to work the way you described it (and which I would favor).

I've also been fooled by some error-messages which the server is allowed to send, one of them being SERVERFULL. The only possibility that it sends this message though, is when the client thinks the server isn't full yet (because of update-delay) and tries to connect anyway.

[beren]

Well, then, regardless of my preferences, I vote it gets implemented in such a way that it works.

(By client modified, do you mean that there would be a client download for those clients who wish to join a reserved slot?)

[Cirr]

I'm really confused now. Now it seems to be the other way 'round again. Sorry for wasting the time of the people who already downloaded and tried it. I'll completely rewrite it and post a (hopefully) working version tomorrow.

[beren]

Hey, don't rush it. I'm willing to wait (and so are the rest of my lame ass bunch of gamers) for a solid release. I'll hit the forums a couple times this weekend in between looking around at the code.

Beren

[Cirr]

Ok, this time everything should work as expected (and most importantly: for everyone).
I'm now using a hybrid solution: The server gets full as usual, e.g. up to 20/20. From then on, when correctly authenticated people (password or PlayerID) log in, MaxPlayers gets increased just as they login, so it will be 21/21, 22/22... When a player disconnects, MaxPlayers gets decreased again, until it hits the original value: 22/22, 21/21, 20/20 19/20...
Get it here:
http://x0z.de/ReservedSlots103.zip

This time I've also included a class for people who use AccessControlIni.

[xdragosanix]

First off, great mod. I just set up a new server, and this was one of the first things I was looking for. I have just one question for you.

Is there a way to take a private slot before the server is full? For instance, if the server has a max of 20 people, and I join at 15, do I take a private slot or a public slot.

[DeaD]

Awsome dude.. i am going to test it out.