Project RingSlinger v4 ~ Update! (7/29)

[Krabs]

Version 4 has been released! It fixes a major lag issue and nerfs tails a bit, and tones down rocket jumps:
• Removed the respawn animations of collectable items. They were causing some nasty lag issues, especially on maps with many rings
• Nerfed weapon jumping:

o Bounce ring jump force reduced by 30%
o Explosion ring causes the user to spill 10 rings (or lose their shield) if caught in the blast
o Grenade ring causes the user to spill 20 rings (or lose their shield) if caught in the blast
o Players holding the flag cannot use weapons to jump higher​

• Weapon changes

o Explosion ring's weapon delay has been decreased to 45 from 51​

• Tails changes

o Reduced Tails' actionspd to 180 (from 185)
o Reduced Tails' accelstart to 128 (from 192)
o Increased Tails' acceleration to 38 (from 36)
o Changed the limit on Tails' downward flying speed to 10 (from 12)​

• Super sneakers now grant 15% decreased weapon delay, which CAN stack with Knuckles' faster firing speed for a total of 43.75% decreased weapon delay.



Project RingSlinger is a lua based mod for SRB2 focused around character balance and the improvement of gameplay in FPS modes, as well as adding new features and visual/audio improvements to make the game feel great to play. Each character has been given thoughtful changes to improve balance and make them more enjoyable. There are a plethora of weapon tweaks focused on improving player combat, and players should no longer feel like they are invincible thanks to a less forgiving hurt system. Besides gameplay improvements, there are also extra features such as player-colored rings, and ring respawn animations, and more.

Sometimes I will be hosting netgames on the Project RS test server, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped by, tried it out and let me know what you thought.

Changelist - Version 3.0

Spoiler: Credits

Jump Thok ability, version 2.0
Porting started by Wolfy, but Sryder13 did pretty much all of 2.0, so he gets all the credit for this one
Original Riders coding by Chaos Zero 64
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Holdfly + spindash script by Wolfy
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Help command modified from the one used in SRB2 terminal (created by Wolfy, RedEnchilada, sonicfreak94, and Steel Titanium)
--
Rocket jump, weapon changes, stat changes, and sound/visual tweaks made by Duck (Dusk209)

 

[Xkower8181]

1.While charging spindash it looks like this was that sonic cd spindash.
2.You should remove that new annoiyng get weapon sound i very don't like it.
3.That rocket jump thing is hard to control at bomb ring.
EDIT
4.I just love new abilities for characters!
5.It's nice touch that you made Tails better in gameplay but i think that now match with tails is easier with this.

 

[Zwip-Zwap Zapony]

This looks like so much fun. I can't wait to jump into a server with this and-Oh, wait... I forgot... There are never any servers with a playable ping for me.
I guess I'll just wait until someone ports the Community Build (SRB2CB) Bots to 2.1 through Lua, together with the AddBot command.

 

[KaisoAri]

I usually play as Tails in match/CTF, so I'm pleased to see some nice changes for him. The only thing that kinda bothers me is how you nerfed his flight duration. And also, seeing his rings fly faster in match will make sniping from the sky much easier and less dependent on rail rings.

 

[wolfs]

I guess I'll just wait until someone ports the Community Build (SRB2CB) Bots to 2.1 through Lua, together with the AddBot command.

This is not possible. It will also not likely be possible anytime soon.

 

[Zwip-Zwap Zapony]

This is not possible. It will also not likely be possible anytime soon.

According to I think J.T.E, "anything hardcoded should be modifyable through Lua", and while the Bot Artificial Intelligence hooks only allow very few "options", he did say one could also just modify the bots directly ("but that's cheating", he also said).

I believe it's fully possible to port the Community Build Bots through Lua (even if it'll come as wide as to actually define their X, Y and Z positions through values designed to simulate movement, and their angle, and simulate fake fired rings and such), but I also believe it won't ever happen.

 

[Krabs]

You should remove that new annoiyng get weapon sound i very don't like it.

You are probably right on this one, I was just trying to get rid of the nights sound effects. I'll remove it in A2 until I find something more fitting.

Also, about tails - the reason that his flight duration was decreased is because his new flight ability allows him to get places much faster than before. He can ascend without slowing his horizontal movement, and can ascend much faster than before. Combined with the duration nerf, he simply travels the same distance in a shorter amount of time, but cannot stay in the air for as long. However, 4 seconds might have been quite harsh, so I am considering raising it to 5. Here's a preview of EVEN MORE flying control in A2. Note how quickly tails recovers from a fall and gets up to speed: http://www.gfycat.com/MinorCorruptDairycow

I will be hosting PRS later today, sometime in the afternoon (EST)

 

[wolfs]

According to I think J.T.E, "anything hardcoded should be modifyable through Lua", and while the Bot Artificial Intelligence hooks only allow very few "options", he did say one could also just modify the bots directly ("but that's cheating", he also said).

I believe it's fully possible to port the Community Build Bots through Lua (even if it'll come as wide as to actually define their X, Y and Z positions through values designed to simulate movement, and their angle, and simulate fake fired rings and such), but I also believe it won't ever happen.

First, SRB2's existing bot code does not synchronize in netgames. It is single player only. They also lack AI for game types other than SP entirely. I believe the way JTE should have phrased his statement is, "anything hardcoded should be modifiable through Lua, but only through the proper hooks." Believe it or not there are some things Lua is not capable of. If you wanted to recode half the game in a mobjthinker then you might be able to do it, but of course you would eventually lose interest in doing such a redundant task or hit C overflow.

If you would want them to function similar to CB at all while maintaining netplay support (would be dumb not to do so considering this is an MP project), the BotAI hooks would be useless entirely given that they do not function in multiplayer and Lua cannot change that (go ahead and try, I assure you it will not work) without a modification in hardcode. If you want to waste time getting those useless bots to work online, then I'll gladly welcome you to dig through the mess that is SRB2's source and I'm sure your contribution will be much appreciated.

 

[Krabs]

I'll be hosting a game in an hour, and some more late tonight. Hopefully I can get some good test games going!

EDIT: The server is down now. Thanks to the people who joined in! There were some unfortunate sfails and server crashes (not due to the mod, mind you,) but either way it was a successful test. I'll be releasing Alpha 2 sometime tonight and hosting that!

 

[KaisoAri]

Also, about tails - the reason that his flight duration was decreased is because his new flight ability allows him to get places much faster than before. He can ascend without slowing his horizontal movement, and can ascend much faster than before. Combined with the duration nerf, he simply travels the same distance in a shorter amount of time, but cannot stay in the air for as long. However, 4 seconds might have been quite harsh, so I am considering raising it to 5. Here's a preview of EVEN MORE flying control in A2. Note how quickly tails recovers from a fall and gets up to speed: http://www.gfycat.com/MinorCorruptDairycow

That does make sense. I noticed while I was testing that his flight ascending speed was incredibly faster as soon as it got around to 3 seconds in flight.

Also, Tails + Bounce Rings = Utter Chaos! Sonic and Knuckle's bounce rings work as they should, but as soon as Tails throws one, it goes absolutely bonkers! I also noticed that bounce rings bounce off the sky and bottomless pits... Not sure if that's how they behave in vanilla or that this mod has made them that way. Either way, things can get real crazy if a Tails player (like myself) unleashes a full stack of bounce rings in a cramped room.

 

[Krabs]

That does make sense. I noticed while I was testing that his flight ascending speed was incredibly faster as soon as it got around to 3 seconds in flight.

Also, Tails + Bounce Rings = Utter Chaos! Sonic and Knuckle's bounce rings work as they should, but as soon as Tails throws one, it goes absolutely bonkers! I also noticed that bounce rings bounce off the sky and bottomless pits... Not sure if that's how they behave in vanilla or that this mod has made them that way. Either way, things can get real crazy if a Tails player (like myself) unleashes a full stack of bounce rings in a cramped room.

The gif I posted is how tails' flight works in alpha 2, which will be released tonight. Bounce rings bounce off the sky in vanilla srb2, but I agree that they get a bit crazy with tails. I'll see what I can do about that.

EDIT: Alpha 2 will release in a few hours. I've added new features and fixed bounce ring hell. Hooray.

 

[Vlad Freeman]

I like new sounds very much (except the one when collecting weapon panels). I like character balance changes. I like new ideas with weapons. It's fun.
But the problem is that those changes make the characters to be similar in mobility and weapons lack in variety of use:

• Sonic can now reach places just as fast as Tails or Knuckles due to bomb ring knockback, thus making any other character practically useless for experienced players.
• I think that Tails was meant to remain in the air flying around longer than the others, ideal for "railing" and bombing everything what he sees while remaining safe. Now he has to move quickly from place to place like any other character rather than to concentrate on aiming. One thing I can say that increasing speed of his projectiles may be a nice idea for a vanilla Tails to compensate his slowness.
• Knuckles got nothing more than upgrade to match ability changes for Sonic and Tails.
• Colored rings could be difficult to see, especially for players playing in a low display resolution. It's much harder to see a black ring flying from above in Desolate Twilight Zone.
• Bomb rings are slow and good for close range. Scatter rings are now limited in distance and good only for close to mid range. What's the problem? I think you just make the players to hunt for rail and bounce rings and spam red rings, making other weapons to be less practical.

While personally it's fun to feel and try out those changes, it just makes everyone to use similar tactics and gameplay styles, destroying the idea of speed/flight/power for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles respectively.

 

[Krabs]

I've released alpha 2, and will be hosting a server shortly. The new changelog is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ghaymDxgU5Yy00UVYwdURJSTg/edit?usp=sharing

I like new sounds very much (except the one when collecting weapon panels). I like character balance changes. I like new ideas with weapons. It's fun.
But the problem is that those changes make the characters to be similar in mobility and weapons lack in variety of use:

• Sonic can now reach places just as fast as Tails or Knuckles due to bomb ring knockback, thus making any other character practically useless for experienced players.
• I think that Tails was meant to remain in the air flying around longer than the others, ideal for "railing" and bombing everything what he sees while remaining safe. Now he has to move quickly from place to place like any other character rather than to concentrate on aiming. One thing I can say that increasing speed of his projectiles may be a nice idea for a vanilla Tails to compensate his slowness.
• Knuckles got nothing more than upgrade to match ability changes for Sonic and Tails.
• Colored rings could be difficult to see, especially for players playing in a low display resolution. It's much harder to see a black ring flying from above in Desolate Twilight Zone.
• Bomb rings are slow and good for close range. Scatter rings are now limited in distance and good only for close to mid range. What's the problem? I think you just make the players to hunt for rail and bounce rings and spam red rings, making other weapons to be less practical.

While personally it's fun to feel and try out those changes, it just makes everyone to use similar tactics and gameplay styles, destroying the idea of speed/flight/power for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles respectively.

I see what you mean about giving Sonic too much vertical mobility, and blending the characters into similarity. For alpha 3 I will consider moving them back into their respective strengths. Additionally, I agree that colored rings might be problematic and hard to see, so I will look into a solution such as making the sparkles brighter or giving them some kind of glow. Hopefully the feature doesn't have to go.

EDIT: added a hotfix for a lua error in A2

EDIT 2: the server is down now, I'll probably host some more tomorrow or later tonight.

EDIT 3: fixed an error in the change list regarding knuckles' jump height

 

[Krabs]

Version 3 has been released. I will try to host a netgame tonight, but my internet seems to be a bit wonky at the moment.

EDIT: I am currently testing a dedicated server for PRS. I am unsure how long it will last or if it will run 24/7, but at the very least it will be up for several hours.

EDIT 2: Version 4 has been released, but it is a minor patch. I've been slowing down my work on this wad as I've become more satisfied with it and not many people are posting feedback.

 

[EclipsedNight]

Bump.
So, I really enjoy this mod but there are some things that don't seem to be working anymore. The rocket jump doesn't seem to function and Knuckles' jumpheight seems unchanged.

 

[Krabs]

Bump.
So, I really enjoy this mod but there are some things that don't seem to be working anymore. The rocket jump doesn't seem to function and Knuckles' jumpheight seems unchanged.

So I was randomly browsing the srb2mb for old times' sake, and this thread was bumped not too long ago. I don't know if 2.2 will reel me back into modding this game, but I'd rather spend my time elsewhere. This game was basically my life for quite a long time but I think I'm done now.

PRS is still something I'm proud of, though. Even though the way I scripted it was a mess. If you or anyone else wants to expand upon RS or anything else I've ever made for SRB2, go ahead.