Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

This past weekend, I went to a LAN center with my GF that was hosting a ET tournament. It was a lot of fun. Sadly, noone there played RtCW anymore. I showed a few people my bot, and most didn't even have RtCW installed to play it anymore.

But EVERYONE was active in ET.

And everyone asked me to port to ET, or why wasn't I modding for ET. It was a bit discouraging - noone seemed to understand why I would still love an old game like RtCW. :(


RtCW vs. ET as I see it:

RtCW:

1. No spammy weapons (which is something I can fix in ET tho).

2. More mature community and variety.

3. Encourages teamwork, but the game isn't a total loss if you have twits for teammates.

4. A LOT of fun! :D

5. The daddy of them all.

6. Even playing field - even if the game has been going on all day, noone has an advantage over you except skill.

7. Needs a bot! ET has 3 bots in various stages of development, but RtCW only has 2, and I'm not even sure UberSoldat is being developed anymore.

ET:

1. Improved GFX and engine to work with - theres a lot you can do with ET you can't with RtCW just out of the box. It just LOOKS better than RtCW too.
Everything is more refined, sharper and better looking/sounding.

2. Free - unlike RtCW which is becoming hard to find in software stores, anyone can get ET with a bit of effort, even 56k'ers (I did)! :)

3. Fresh and active community, unlike RtCW which is shrinking everyday. ET is still very popular online. And people are begging for good bots. There are
fewer and fewer new maps/mods for RtCW released anymore, but ET has new maps released nearly every week.

4. Improved classes, and tho I don't like some of the rewards and would balance them a bit, it rewards hard work and skill.



I'm very tempted to port Fritz to ET. I could have bots running around in ET in a few hours, and all of the code ported in a week or so. A basic scripting system is already finished and could be expanded for ET a few weeks after that. I figure before XMAS, I could have a release that would support at least a few of the smaller maps out of the gate.

But should I? Would you guys like that more? Does it bother anyone? I hate to leave RtCW because I have enjoyed it for so long and its community is shrinking everyday and it REALLY needs a bot. But I also can't ignore the fact that its dying, and that I really enjoy ET too......

Ideas, suggestions, comments?

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Heyyo,

Well, would it be possible to have the bot be compatible with both, or would it be like cramming 2 different bots into 1 file?

If your bot could be for both then both parts of the RTCW/ET community would be pleased.

If not? hmm, gimmie summore info, does ET have the same gamemodes as RTCW and just add on a few, or is it just the new ones ET has?

After these few questions are answered I'll post in the poll ;)

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

hallo from Russia 1s again man.

..recently i was the first who has asked U about making FB for et..
Mmm...of couse its good and useful idea i guess,why not..

But yes, there's only 2 cool bots for rtcw now , and yr bot the first bot that has human AI i think . It would be very sad'n'bad thing if U'll give up yr work in making rtcw fbots for other main'n'coolest maps.. Aii have never LAN or DSL etc)
internet and played online in rtcw...so yr work really VALUABLE for me, thanx for yrs human Bots..

But thats life...only U ..i think... may know...what U r like...to create
Anyway - thanx ahead for yr hard 'n' fantastik work..Cant wait any more from U..
Rspct !

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

I can't support 2 games at once - that would be too much work. :(
It would have to be one or the other - unless you want to pay me. ;) :D

ET has the same gamemode - objective. However, it allows you to fight in campaigns that last several maps. So its not whether your team wins just one
map, but whether it wins best of 3 maps (the average campaign size).

You CAN just play one map, only objective, just like RtCW. Its also possible to
turn off XP saving as well, and just make it RtCW with better GFX. These are issues I'll have to explore if I decide to go the route of supporting ET.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Heyyo,

Well, since ET is more widely used, I guess porting to ET wouldn't be so bad. But maybe you should stick to your origininal idea n' finish making the bot for RTCW and then porting it to ET. Then us RTCW people won't be left with a half-finished bot (cause all gamemodes aren't fully implemented n' such).

[EDIT]
So I vote No for now and once you're got all the gamemodes fully implemented n' such, then convert to ET and keep coding there.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Thanks for the encouragement! :)

Yes, it would be a sad thing to leave RtCW behind, but I worry right now that RtCW will be totally dead soon anyhow (RTCW 2 or some other game will come out and finish it, as if ET hasn't killed it enough).

I really want to do this, sad to say. I spent the better part of yesterday working out the details in my mind and planning what I want to do/add, but I want all of your input first.

Remember - if there are things about ET that bother you (gameplay wise) I would be able to fix them. There is already a RTCW mod for ET out there thats bringing a lot of RTCW's features to ET. It wouldn't be a problem to do something similiar (on a smaller scale), to balance those things about ET a lot of RtCW players don't like! Ex: I friggin hate the fact that on nearly every map, allies can use mortars from across the map and actually hit the axis spawn, killing you before you even get out the door - with access to the source, I can make it where that could never happen, eliminating a major gripe many people have with ET.

BTW: be sure to use the poll and vote! I'd like to see just where everyone stands.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Hey Mal,

I would prefer you stuck with RtCW, as you mentioned there are already quite a few bots for ET, but i believe your the only one left creating one for RtCW. But I'll support your mod whatever you decide to do.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Thats a commitment that I just really can't make for a free mod. :(

Also, I have to say again I'm REALLY tempted to give ET a shot, and am considering its pros/cons ATM.

Have you tried ET out yet BTW? ???:(

If not, give it a go and tell me what you think. I just don't think that I'll be leaving RtCW players out, because ET is free and runs about the same as RtCW system wise (I have a P3 866 and play it decently). Also - many of RtCW maps have been ported already to ET (beach, base, and sub I know for sure).


Ghost: Thanks for the support. Like I said - thats what bothers me: it would be like leaving the RtCW community in the lurch since it has no active bot mod. :(

BTW: I haven't tried any of the ET bots yet, but from what I heard at that Lan tourney, Fritz already is far advanced then all of them anyhow - everyone there practically BEGGED me to port to ET just because of Fritz's strong class support and weapon handling alone.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

i 've tried them, and i have no doubt you could improve them, the main problem with existing ET bots is that they
really don't understand objectives.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

ET isn't bad, but it's not all that great either. Mal, i'd make me a happy person to see Fritzbot continue work for RTCW rather than ET. I mean yeah we do got Wolfbot, but your mod can by far bypass wolfbot and is on a very nice road so far.

Although it's totally up to you, but i do fully support the RTCW version of Fritzbot. And i'm afraid i won't support a ET version, sorry mal. I never really like ET at all, i mean it's got some alright features and all, but it just don't grab me like RTCW does, and to put it bluntly, even with a good bot mod, i'd never play it.

You also gotta look at it in this light though, bot mods can breed life into old games. I mean RTCW still had a good SP and and even greater MP, if the two were combined and worked great, it could revive a game once thought dead. I mean yeah there isn't many servers running RTCW anymore, but that doesn't mean nobody plays it.

But as said before mal, it's your call, your an excellent coder, and i think either way you go it'll be a good mod.

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

there was no "yes but..." option so I voted yes.
My suggestion was that you could maybe make the bot core independent, and either get it to compile for 2 games at a time, or make 2 different DLLs...
You would end up with a multigame bot, like the HPB_bot was for Half-Life. It requires a bit more work to maintain it, but you don't lose your work and anytime you want to progress on a particular game you can do so without altering the other...

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

I may explore that option in the future, but for right now - thats just so much more work than I have the time/energy for. :(

Most people are voting to keep it for RtCW, I may just do that. I enjoy Wolf a lot still, and would love to at least get a bot working for all of the official maps,
before I explore other games/engines.

I don't know, I just think ET is the future tho, and that Wolf is slowly dying away, and by the time I have a really good bot done for it, noone will care anymore. :(

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Heres an interesting site I found today that shows just how big of a gap there is
between ET and RtCW:

http://www.csports.net/TopGames.aspx?Matrix=0&Mod=0

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

I've been hearing from a lot of people, and its a pretty dead heat - half want ET, and half want RtCW. 9_9

So much for that clear majority I was looking for! :P

I really want to make a bot for ET, and I have decided I probably will, AFTER I finish Fritz for RtCW. ;)

I was REALLY going thru the ET source over the last few days, and was seeing how everything works - its a lot like wolf, but the gameplay is a LOT more complex than it seems at first glance, and it made me realize that Fritz is nowhere near being done enough to start taking on the the workload of supporting ET.

Yet, everything I've made for Fritz so far, and will make in the future, will port across to ET easily with no problems when Fritz IS done. ET is RtCW with some added features - EVERYTHING that works in RtCW will work in ET. The only task will be supporting the ET specific class/obj/weapon stuff.


I can wait for Fritz:ET..... for now, its finishing up Fritz for RtCW, and at least getting the official maps supported, thats going to be my focus.

Once thats complete.... who knows! :) :D

Re: Should Fritz be ported to ET?
 

Sounds good mal, i'm happy to hear that not only will you be finishing Fritz for RTCW (which is really great news to hear), but also porting it to ET once finished. And i agree i'd assume i'd be easier to port once the RTCW version is done, cause most of the base code will already be established and functioning properly. All you's really need to do is tweak it and add ET specific features, and bam, an excellent bot for ET almost right from the start.