BrendaEM on 16/5/2008 at 00:55
I've seen this thread before, and let me say...
I passed this thread over because I thought that Multiplayer Thief was too good to be true. I thought it was just another "Bow Upgrade."
I just downloaded "Ominous Bequest" and I would like to bring a friend along.
5tephe on 16/5/2008 at 03:51
I haven't had time to re-visit this thread since I posted early on, but I have just returned and read through the entire thread. What I see is nothing short of amazing.
The way you keep lining up the next issue, and then progressively solving the problems and moving on to the next stated issue is breathtaking. (I am a project manager in a web-dev company, and I am much more used to things going all pear shaped, than the kind of progress you guys are making.)
It looks like you almost have a workable alpha release: with proper notes and the (obviously immense) interest that you are receiving from the community out there, that feels like it will kick this dream over into the "many hands" stage, and really sorting things out.
Well done!
The next step will be for people to start thinking about writing MP Thief missions. Heists.
qckbeam on 16/5/2008 at 04:31
This is incredible stuff. I have a little experience with reversing (very little) and this kind of work. I imagine it's been tough on you both.
I don't know what else to say really. I just wanted to show my support. Thanks, guys!
sNeaksieGarrett on 19/5/2008 at 18:58
I was looking earlier at a mission file in dromed and realized the extent that looking glass had been working on the multiplayer component of thief 2: Garrett has a "Networking" entry in his properties on his archetype (-2099).:o He's also listed as an "avatar" in the object heirarchy. But what I found is the essence of me posting here. Under "Avatars" there is "networkavatars"! They even got to the extent of possible avatars for multiplayer. So here's the question: Would you guys be able to replace the avatar(s) of the player(s) for thief 2 multiplayer? I tried creating a networkavatar in the game, and it apparently is a model but there is no texture. I am assuming this is so that the mission designer could put the AI mesh they want onto the avatar. This could open up some cool stuff for avatars when Thief 2 Multiplayer is out. I was thinking, like replace player 2 with a thief-based mesh instead of the same garrett mesh that player 1 (host?) has. This of course would be dromed based, but I can't tell you how you'd actually implement this. Tos, you'll have to talk to this guy: (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121288)
btw, that is the mission i was referring to. I got the idea because he made it to where when you look down, you can actually see garrett. So it gave me the urge to look up garrett's properties, and that is when i found the networkavatars.
Tos on 20/5/2008 at 00:19
Sorry for the lack of updates lately.
I've begun working on things again, and have made some progress. Blackjacking now works (somewhat) properly for players other than the host, though it looks a bit silly at the moment because the AI will play the death animation and sound rather than the knockout ones. The game doesn't blame you for their "death", so it won't fail a mission on expert difficulty. I'm pretty confident that that should be fixable eventually however.
I've also resolved a few more crash bugs, though there are a few maps that are still unusually crash-prone (such as Ambush) for reasons that I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Quote Posted by MrBosnia
Personally for me this thing is too bug-ridden and unstable to be made out of something serious by a couple of amateur programmers. We would need a strong team of people to take this and propel it forward into a serious multiplayer extension for T2.
I've gone out of my way to avoid raising people's expectations and have made it quite clear (even from the original post in this thread) that even I am not confident that this will ever be even close to bug-free.
Of course, if you know of a "strong" team of programmers who are willing to take this project out of my amateur hands and turn it into a complete success, feel free. I'd actually welcome the help.
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
So here's the question: Would you guys be able to replace the avatar(s) of the player(s) for thief 2 multiplayer? I tried creating a networkavatar in the game, and it apparently is a model but there is no texture. I am assuming this is so that the mission designer could put the AI mesh they want onto the avatar. This could open up some cool stuff for avatars when Thief 2 Multiplayer is out. I was thinking, like replace player 2 with a thief-based mesh instead of the same garrett mesh that player 1 (host?) has. This of course would be dromed based, but I can't tell you how you'd actually implement this. Tos, you'll have to talk to this guy: (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121288)
It should definitely be possible to use different avatars for each player. We currently have it set up to use the Garret model for all four network avatars, but that should be easy enough for anyone to change through Dromed.
Quote Posted by 5tephe
It looks like you almost have a workable alpha release: with proper notes and the (obviously immense) interest that you are receiving from the community out there, that feels like it will kick this dream over into the "many hands" stage, and really sorting things out.
Well done!
The next step will be for people to start thinking about
writing MP Thief missions. Heists.
Thanks for the kind words. We're considering releasing a very early test fairly soon now that some of the serious issues have been fixed. I'd like to stress again however that this is by no means complete and will probably
not be easy to get working. In short, if you don't have a great deal of patience I wouldn't recommend trying it yet. :p
If there's enough interest in this for people to create new missions designed from the ground up for multiplayer, that would be absolutely great. It may also help me figure out why some of the original Thief 2 missions don't work as well in multiplayer as others do.
sNeaksieGarrett on 21/5/2008 at 04:29
Quote Posted by Tos
It should definitely be possible to use different avatars for each player. We currently have it set up to use the Garret model for all four network avatars, but that should be easy enough for anyone to change through Dromed.
Sweet!
Inline Image:
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/party/party-smiley-048.gifQuote Posted by Tos
If there's enough interest in this for people to create new missions designed from the ground up for multiplayer, that would be absolutely great. It may also help me figure out why some of the original Thief 2 missions don't work as well in multiplayer as others do.
Oh yes, I could totally see this happening. Hammerite deathmatch would be a perfect multiplayer mission to test this idea.:sly: But there could certainly be thiefy multiplayer games. Maybe Player 1 is after the same treasure that Player 2 is, and Player 1 must get to the treasure first. Who knows....
Good luck man, and again, thanks for doing this.
Inline Image:
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/party/party-smiley-027.gif I know people are fascinated with this idea like I am.
Tos on 21/5/2008 at 08:22
Uploaded a new video showing us playing Running Interference from start to finish on normal difficulty. It's now available on the first post of this thread (along with the second video we made of Framed) or (
http://s149432842.onlinehome.us/files/mission1.avi) here.
clearing on 21/5/2008 at 08:28
Awesome work :eek: :thumb:
Gambit on 21/5/2008 at 11:16
Quote:
It should definitely be possible to use different avatars for each player. We currently have it set up to use the Garret model for all four network avatars, but that should be easy enough for anyone to change through Dromed.
Now Garrett and Zaya can finally work together...
The Gordon/Alix team-up is now obsolete :cool:
Oh, and of course, Garrett and Basso.
The Magpie on 21/5/2008 at 13:58
No, Basso must surely have been married and retired by the time of the Metal Age?
I know it's far too early, but... would it be possible to have one set of triggered voice comments for each of the player avatars? What about the sound propagation of Garrett's voice, could that be done? Would that mean that two or more Garretts would be babbling the same sentences all at once, or what?
Anyway, I hope someone in the Editors' Guild would know what to do with their multiplayer mission ideas. :)
--
L.
