Thief 2 Multiplayer - by Tos
Jusal on 13/12/2007 at 13:55
Ouch! Surprisingly enough I'm not dreaming.
Tos on 13/12/2007 at 21:25
[QUOTE='[NAUC]Chief;1679875']Out of curiosity can your network DLL hook into the demo, or is there too much missing from it.
As much as I liked LOTP, The Unwelcome Guest would sure be fun multiplayer however bugged (for in-game chat I wonder if xfire would work).Unfortunately, no. It relies on data in the Thief 2 executable being in very specific locations. Is there any way to get The Unwelcome Guest working in the final version of the engine?
As for Xfire, I've never used it before, but doesn't it use a Direct3D hook to draw an overlay used for displaying and entering text? If so, the same sort of thing may be possible to do without using it, although I do not know how it would be done at the moment.
sarasara on 14/12/2007 at 21:23
My worst nightmare! A Thief multiplayer...........yeeeeuch!
jtr7 on 14/12/2007 at 22:16
Fortunately, you'll never be forced to play it. Whew!
sNeaksieGarrett on 15/12/2007 at 07:02
I don't get what the big deal is... I'm a big thief fan just like the rest of ya'll, but i think thief multiplayer is an awesome idea! Don't let the naysayers stop you Tos, keep at it man!:cheeky: I mean, at least co-op sounds like an awesome idea anyway. Of course, you'd have to make it more multiplayer friendly but hey... look at SS2. The game was pretty much meant for one player too, but they made it co-op able. I think it is awesome. Just pretend the other dude is an apprentice under garrett. or maybe garrett's long lost brother?:rolleyes: Idk, the possibilities are endless but I always thought multiplayer thief would be tight.. which is why I had gotten Thievery for UT99... Problem is, nobody plays that these days.:(
Quote Posted by Tos
As for Xfire, I've never used it before, but doesn't it use a Direct3D hook to draw an overlay used for displaying and entering text?
I use xfire. I'm no programming dude, but I know that to make ingame work for the thief games, you must set it's rendering mode for xfire as "DDRAW". But it detects what direct 3d mode a game runs, and then allows the ingame communication window to show. Hell though, if people wanna communicate, they could just use Teamspeak or some other voice service and talk by microphone. A lot easier that way. Otherwise, just using xfire's ingame should be sufficient enough IMO. (unless peeps got a thing against xfire, although i can't imagine why:p )
jtr7 on 15/12/2007 at 07:27
If people like Tos can get it working, it will be best for Fan Missions, as the objectives, briefings, cutscenes, and story texts will make sense. Otherwise, I have no problem with using the Original Missions as a testbed. It would be fun, but only if you were fully communicating, planning, and working together. I wouldn't want the mission to end abruptly, and without warning, because the other player picked up a piece of loot that met the last mutual objective, for instance.
I'd like to see this get working, if the two computers could be synchronized.
sNeaksieGarrett on 15/12/2007 at 16:01
Quote Posted by jtr7
it will be best for Fan Missions, as the objectives, briefings, cutscenes, and story texts will make sense.
Hmmm, yeah. The FM author's can work around a multiplayer mission so that when you do play multiplayer, it actually fits - or makes sense, as you say.
Quote Posted by jtr7
I wouldn't want the mission to end abruptly, and without warning, because the other player picked up a piece of loot that met the last mutual objective, for instance.
Hmm good point. You know though, this is a common thing in co-op games on the interwebs because usually people get left behind and the map gets done before all the players can catch up (unless of course, the guy is nice enough to let everyone catch up). Take Sven Coop (svencoop.com) for example. There is always some dude who knows the level really well, is ahead of you, and ends up beating it and you didn't even get that far. Has happened to me a few times I think. But yeah, it would give you that feeling of "awww man, he got the last piece of loot":rolleyes:
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By the way, Tos: Are you planning on releasing a working T2 multiplayer setup once you get most things fixed up? Just wondering.
Tos on 15/12/2007 at 21:43
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
I don't get what the big deal is... I'm a big thief fan just like the rest of ya'll, but i think thief multiplayer is an awesome idea! Don't let the naysayers stop you Tos, keep at it man!
Don't worry, I'm not.
I really don't understand that kind of reaction, especially given that they'll never be forced to play it as jtr7 rightly pointed out.
Well, I personally don't use Xfire and would rather find a solution for the chat problem that didn't involve using it. Given that there are workarounds at the moment though (using Xfire or windowed mode) it's going to go at the bottom of my todo list.
Quote Posted by jtr7
I wouldn't want the mission to end abruptly, and without warning, because the other player picked up a piece of loot that met the last mutual objective, for instance.
I'm actually not sure
what will happen at the moment in that kind of situation. Loot is not visibly shared between players right now, but the mission may still end once the combined total meets the mission objective -- I'm not sure.
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
By the way, Tos: Are you planning on releasing a working T2 multiplayer setup once you get most things fixed up? Just wondering.
Of course. I'd like to get things working a little better than they are now before I do so, though. I don't think people would have much fun with the current version.
Speaking of which, I've made some progress on the DirectPlay 8 wrapper that I mentioned in my original post. Connecting and packet sending/receiving are working through DPlay 8 now, and both the server and clients are aware of other players being in the game. Something is preventing it from synchronizing under DPlay 8 though, so it isn't quite playable yet. I have some ideas as to what might be causing that and I'll be taking a look at it today.
Once the wrapper is working, there will be no need for players behind routers or firewalls to use Hamachi to connect to each other (as most players probably do with SS2, since the network code is identical), and lag should be reduced. The wrapper code will also be portable to SS2, so I'll release it for that as well if I can get it going.
jtr7 on 15/12/2007 at 21:49
No matter the outcome, Tos, 'tis a cool thing you're doing.
