Non-Epic Playtest Feedback

[raxxy]

Hey guys;

Going to make a thread where the non-epic playtest feedback can be channeled.

See the announcements forums for builds.

If you'd like to join us for organised playtests -jump on irc at irc.GlobalGamers.net, #beyondunreal channel.



For the time being I am running servers behind this launcher and will do my absolute best to keep them working aligned with the builds

https://ut.rushbase.net/rush/UTLauncher - Please direct feedback to RushPL, I'm sure he'll spin up a thread for this. This is temporary until Epic have a working master server, when Epic have a working master server, this will be transitioned into a desktop app instead.

Editor Users:

At the moment the editors won't be able to connect to servers, if this changes, I will edit this post.

As always; keep your feedback constructive & try not to get into an argument over an opinion!

[raxxy]

From todays playtest (11/07/2014) I have noticed:

at 300ms (from australia to europe - server isn't local to me), you seem to be able to dodge through slopes & ramps before your latency "catches up" and puts you back where you should be.

Jump boots appear to execute server-side, which retains the same problem, "your ping" after you send the jump boot command to the server (wherever it is), you suddenly reappear in the air - obviously this is early times, and I expect this will move client-side further down the road.

Sprint+Flak appears to be a little overpowered for low latency (appear around a corner and stand ontop of someone before they notice whats going on and kill them in one hit)

300 ammo is much too high for the Stinger, if you know where the ammo is on the maps you can almost keep firing non stop unless someone else has picked up that ammo

[Sir_Brizz]

There are several problems that I've noticed.

1) During combat the levels feel really small. You smash into walls/ceilings/etc all the time while fighting. This is contrasted with the fact the levels visually seemed scaled just fine which I don't know what that means or how to balance it...

2) Things happen when you don't see them. Sneaking up on someone through a lift jump wall dodge isn't hard.

3) Seeing rockets coming is kind of hard right now.

4) Despite #1, the movement speed still feels very slow

5) As expected, strafe dynamics are flat out awful. You can't "wiggle" like you could in UT and changing directions feels muddy and terrible (and makes you quite easy to hit while changing directions).

6) Because of #5, it is hard to evade splash damage.

I'm sure there are more things to say but I can't think of them right now.

[TheWhiteDragon]

As a note for those that want to play test something that isn't in official git head.

The big problem we have had with playtests is version mismatches. The best way to avoid this is for the server owner to package a build through the editor and put it up for everyone to dl. When everyone is ready start the server from the editor.

Basically the same person that runs the server should make the package. If you all just update to head and try connecting to each other there's no guarantee versions will match.

[tigerclaw]

From what i can see there are a few things contributing towards the scale issues

Maps like C4 and F08 have lots of small rooms, 0.5-1.5 dodge lengths across - this makes things very tight and spammy for players like us who dodge a lot during combat, if you're in one of these spaces for more than 2 seconds you'll easily find yourself hitting a wall or other obstacle - the maps are open in that you can chain together jumps and dodges when OUT of combat, but when you start fighting you need much more room to move

There are almost no areas where you are more than 1 dodge away from something, even in the open areas of the maps - http://s9.postimg.org/726q678ct/tempest.png this room on tempest isn't huge, but it's 2.5 dodge lengths wide from any wall and is big enough to fight with almost all of the weapons effectively without it being tight or spammy or without you running into too much open space

2nd, some maps have a lot of wasted space, multi level floors/ramps/stairs and things like pillars are MUCH larger and thicker than they need to be, this adds to the size of the rooms without adding space to fight/move in

In the case of pillars and wall segments these can obscure your view of the room significantly, like on C04 where in one room there's a huge pillar in the middle, then in another rooms the gaps between pillars aren't much wider than the pillars themselves

3rd issue is the player size, simply put the character model is too big compared to the movement we're using, this makes people easier to hit and in situations where 2-3 people are in the same room it becomes a very spammy affair

All of these issues seem to contribute towards the scale problems

The maps need to be scaled up and then the movement needs to go up to match

[MonsOlympus]

Okay so I wanted to test if I could run a modified character uasset while the server still had the original same with the other clients, the other people report only seeing green Malcolm as I was the only one with the modified content

[tigerclaw]

Pink Malcom is awesome

Also looked very small running around the map, as opposed to the shooter demo model? not sure why

[Captain Crit]

Pink Malcolm FTW!

I'm sure the dodge issues Tigerclaw pointed out will be resolved and changed so the passages will be open to dodging. Dodging appears equidistant, maybe even greater than, UT2k4's floaty dodge jump.

[raxxy]

12/07/2014

Discovered that landing on another players head kills them no matter how much health they have.

On DM-DeckTest you can get stuck on the larger gap if you slide down to the bottom teleporter below the shock against the wall.
stuck on the wall - http://puu.sh/a8RI2/1359f2a939.jpg
where i was stuck - http://puu.sh/a8RKz/4f5fa86c06.jpg
Can't make the elevator jump near double elevators onto the top platform


weapon kill/death combat log is also incorrect

[MΛuL]

Okay so I wanted to test if I could run a modified character uasset while the server still had the original same with the other clients, the other people report only seeing green Malcolm as I was the only one with the modified content

That's cool although, in the end, I hope chars work like 2K4 i.e. when the server has them installed, they get downloaded to clients along with any custom voice packs. Alternatively, a pop-up that allows you accept or deny individual downloads from a server as some have mentioned, would be cool.

[Entropy]

1) During combat the levels feel really small. You smash into walls/ceilings/etc all the time while fighting. This is contrasted with the fact the levels visually seemed scaled just fine which I don't know what that means or how to balance it...

There's a dichotomy going on that we don't have a resolution for yet. The levels are built to a scale where the weapons feel good and characters are visible, but the default movement is still balanced toward higher jumps and wall dodges like 2k4. If we support that style of movement, we'll need to account for it in levels, which means breaking a lot of other standards that we're not yet willing to do. 3 cheers for early game dev!

2) Things happen when you don't see them. Sneaking up on someone through a lift jump wall dodge isn't hard.

Not sure what this means really. Audio was very broken until Friday-ish so maybe you couldn't hear things? Maybe I'm misinterpreting "things happen"?

...

5) As expected, strafe dynamics are flat out awful. You can't "wiggle" like you could in UT and changing directions feels muddy and terrible (and makes you quite easy to hit while changing directions).

6) Because of #5, it is hard to evade splash damage.

WIP, please find settings that you feel are better and send them my way!

[Entropy]

Discovered that landing on another players head kills them no matter how much health they have.

Math fail, I believe this was fixed over the weekend...

Can't make the elevator jump near double elevators onto the top platform

The lifts are set to UT99 settings. The gravity is not. I fixed that at one point in JimUTCharacter but wasn't sure of all the fallout implications so I adjusted it back for the time being. I think you CAN make it, but you need to wait much longer than you did in previous games.

[jayoplus]

One other thing I wanted to point out was that Enforcer alternate fire currently only consumes one ammo (even though it clearly shoots 3 rounds).

[Sir_Brizz]

There's a dichotomy going on that we don't have a resolution for yet. The levels are built to a scale where the weapons feel good and characters are visible, but the default movement is still balanced toward higher jumps and wall dodges like 2k4. If we support that style of movement, we'll need to account for it in levels, which means breaking a lot of other standards that we're not yet willing to do. 3 cheers for early game dev!

Thanks, this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I agree, the levels look and feel right outside of combat. That's going to be a real challenge to balance without having 2k4 problems.

Not sure what this means really. Audio was very broken until Friday-ish so maybe you couldn't hear things? Maybe I'm misinterpreting "things happen"?

Sorry, I was way too vague in that point... I think it was more lag related than I thought before, but it was easy for someone to do something like a lift jump boost dodge and basically land in your face without you even knowing they were nearby. Maybe it's audio attenuation or something that could help.

WIP, please find settings that you feel are better and send them my way!

Can do, but this makes me question to what extent discussion in the Movement property tweaks thread was followed. I think Acceleration needs to be at least 5000, and deceleration needs to be at least 5000. Those two things make a huge difference in how strafing feels. I would also like to see the dodge landing speed factor increased from .1 to .3 or .4, and the maximum dodge velocity bumped up to 1400. I'm still torn on dodge reset interval. I like .25 but it might be too fast.

[raxxy]

Something I forgot to mention previously:

You can jump way, way over the jump pad at the moment (it won't trigger) - something I almost always do (jump onto jump pads for no apparent reason, hard habit to break)




In other news, a USA playtest server will be coming in the next day or so.