new release! assassin edition

by Aardappel_ on 12/22/2007 19:14, 268 messages, last message: 12/29/2008 17:05, 270724 views, last view: 04/24/2024 10:13, closed on 12/29/2008 17:22

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=102911

New gameplay! Hudguns! lots of cool bits and bobs! Feedback in this thread!

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#193: Re: Patches...?

by MovingTarget on 02/13/2008 02:49, refers to #192

I'm curious though. What magazine did you get it from?

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#194: ..

by makkE on 02/13/2008 13:23

Someone send him a CD ! :)
Big Fish: Or try Cube or AssaultCube (sorry for the shameless plug).. both are around 20mb...

Cube has similar gameplay as Sauerbraten, AC is cube with real guns (more arcade than realistic though).

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#195: The magazine

by BigFish on 02/14/2008 02:02

I've already got Cube, but I'm planning on getting AssaultCube. I got it from a MaximumPC issue about PC Hardware. It came with a CD with a bunch of free games on it. I just got the magazine for Sauerbraten, the content isn't even that interesting. :\

Would it be possible just to get the EXE file, and have it still work? The version I have is the nameless one before the "Spring Edition". If there aren't any file format differences, it SHOULD work.

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#196: Re: The magazine

by enigma_0Z on 02/14/2008 08:09, refers to #196

Hrm... Is there any way we could do a "dual-release" where the full package is released, as well as a "patch" release containing the new binaries and whatnot from the previous release? This would cut down on download times for people w/ slow connections...

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#197: ..

by geartrooper2 on 02/14/2008 12:04

I would suggest making it painfully obvious in the title. "Sauerbraten_Assassin_Edition_Full_Install"
opposed to "Sauerbraten_Assassin_Update_For_Older_Versions"

I believe it would help us with slow connections tremendously. Also those that have the full install and just wish to update. Even if someone downloads directly from sourceforge the title would be unmistakeable comparitively.

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#198: ..

by makkE on 02/14/2008 13:11

I think it´s complicated sometimes, because you can´t always just extract over your exsistng stuff with just a zipped patch. Some things would have to be removed too (just think about model files that sometimes need to be removed so the engine looks for the right ones elsewhere).

Maintaining such upgrader-scripts (which can also move/remove stuff) for all 3 os´es would be a lot of extra work, and prone to errors imho.

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#199: ..

by ezombie on 02/14/2008 16:46

It would be less work to offer CDs in the mail for S&H, most likely...

Set up a simple order site where one chooses which OS, enters an address, pays like $3.95 and then someone would burn off an official ISO and drop it in the mail.

Problem is this gets annoying when it's time to update.

CDs in the mail - or three separate, maintained update installers - or an 'online installer' executable that could check what you have and grab the appropriate ZIP.

Any other ideas?

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#200: Re: ..

by MovingTarget on 02/14/2008 19:52, refers to #199

A small piece of code that executes when Sauer starts that checks if there's a patch or an update, and notifies you.
Not like the release of the summer edition, where some person went to every server and set the map to "THE NEW RELEASE OF SAUER IS OUT! GO GET IT!.ogz" Crude, but (somewhat) effective.

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#201: ..

by tentus_ on 02/14/2008 20:02

Perhaps if there was a Sauerbraten downloader that did the work for the users? Each release could have its own itty bitty program that users could download from Sourceforge, and then the program could download the dozen or so zips and automatically unpack them in the user-specified installation folder.

Even slicker, users could specify where the previous install of Sauer is and it could grab specific folders and file that are guaranteed to not have changed, such as Fanatic's songs, or the IK textures. Fanatic's songs represent almost 27 megs of data, so that could save dialupers a very long download.

Theoretically, the program could be integrated into a launching program, and check for new versions of Sauer on each use. When there is a new version available, it would download a cfg that specifies the locations of all the new files and also what files can be grabbed from the previous version. That way, really inexperienced users wouldn't even have to use Sauerbraten except once, or perhaps never if they get the launcher from a CD or a friend or an email.

So that's my two cents.

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#202: ..

by ezombie on 02/14/2008 20:48

Yes, that is what an online installer is.

Anyone willing to try and make one? Doesn't have to be fancy... the easiest way would be to host a *master set* somewhere, which is just the full install extracted somewhere. The installer could check the md5 of each file with the one online in the master set, and replace any that have changed.

To increase efficiency, one could also zip up all the individual files - sauerbraten.bat becomes sauerbraten.bat.zip and so forth - and add a txt file that has the md5 of all the files before they were zipped. The installer would read this signatures.txt file and then start grabbing each zip file needed. I could whip up a shell script that did the recursive zipping and makes the signatures.txt file...

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#203: Re: ..

by a`baby`rabbit on 02/14/2008 20:53, refers to #201

A Sauerbraten downloader that only loads files that havent changed - better known as CVS maybe? (we would need to label official releases..)

In terms of knowing when an update is avail - there are hints on the multiplayer server browser when it starts saying 'newer version of server'...

More seriously, at one stage it was suggested that the master server also be used to broadcast message-of-the-day type news. Then that would make an easy way of informing people of updates.

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#204: ..

by ezombie on 02/14/2008 21:41

I believe they are asking for an update path that does not require 1) big pipes of bandwidth, and 2) use of fancy-pants stuff like command lines, h4x0r computer knowledge, or funny programs called CVS.

<yes, I was being sarcastic on #2, but they do have a valid point>

I like the master browser MOD thing... sounds handy

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#205: Re: ..

by yoopers on 02/14/2008 21:48, refers to #202

On the subject of installation, does anyone know if someone is working to package Sauer for Ubuntu, Debian, Redhat, or [insert disto here]? As a Linux user this would be my preference over worrying about online installers.

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#206: ..

by ezombie on 02/14/2008 21:52

There *is* a package in the FreeBSD ports system:

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/games/sauerbraten/

But it has fallen woefully behind :(

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#207: Re: ..

by yoopers on 02/14/2008 22:39, refers to #206

So it appears that someone is already packaging Sauer for Ubuntu as of Gutsy:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/games/sauerbraten

Didn't notice that before since I'm running Feisty Fawn (due to a complex MythTV setup that does not encourage frequent upgrades ;). It looks like the package maintainer isn't really splitting the data files up in a way that would greatly reduce downloads though.

Bruno, do you happen to read these boards?

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#208: ..

by Julius on 02/14/2008 22:40

Or you could use this free Steam like auto download system currently in development:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencds/

Download plugins can even be used to download via bittorrent or such.

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#209: ..

by Julius on 02/14/2008 22:44

http://openfrag.org/forum/viewthread/1382

current development of OpenCDS

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#210: ..

by SheeEttin on 02/14/2008 23:13

Why not just make three categories on the Sourceforge page: "engine", "updates", and "content"? (Isn't this kind of the way Sauermod did it?)

This way, people can download only what they need and aren't forced to download the... 180(ish?) extra megabytes that is the maps, textures, etc.

I myself have quite frequently found that I need a clean release, but only the engine... It's quite aggravating.

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#211: Increased freezes

by BillyBob on 02/14/2008 23:16

Aloha all!

I had this problem occasionally with the previous release, and it seems worse since the Assassin release.

In mid-play, suddenly the game becomes completely unresponsive. The music continues to play, the spinning beach ball of death appears, and if I'm patient, the game will crash in a few minutes. If I'm not patient, I can usually force quit. Once I had to resort to power off.

It happens most commonly in Coop Edit. 2nd most commonly, it happens when a player named "unnamed" joins a game. And, on occasion, it seems to happen with no provocation.

I'm on Macs. I play on a variety of machines, including a quad G5 and 2 different generations of Intel iMacs. I use both OS 10.4 and 10.5. The G5 running 10.4 seems to suffer the least from this malady, while the iMac on 10.5 seems the most susceptible. Still, they all freeze.

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#212: ..

by smartalco on 02/14/2008 23:20

some of the maps have changed from version to version (river_c comes to mind)

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