MS 1.35 Newbie Tutor Enhancement for Edana

[Thothie]

NOTICE: This info is dated, and this plugin has since been replaced by the vastly superior Edana Newb Tutorial included in the MS 1.35 Enhancement package!

Well, since Lord K has been encouraging me to edit maps so much (although, I maybe missing the sarcasm) I've yet another modified map for you.



This is a modification of Edana, that includes tip-cards for n00bs. These little plaques glow hauntingly and inform the new players off all the crap you are tired of telling them over and over again.



- Some screenies -

How to talk to NPCs:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-npcs.jpg



FFS backup your character!:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-save.jpg



If you squint, you can read the message about the pack bug:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-packs.jpg



Change your name, "Traveler", before it's too late:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-name.jpg



[G]imme my monies!

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-give.jpg



This one I may offer a change for, I'm just tired of newbie archers crashing my server:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-arrows.jpg



And last, and least, the redundant homepage notice:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/mst-forums.jpg



There are a few more placards, scattered throughout Edana, that should help new players acclimate to the game as quickly as possible, in hopes that they will stick with it, and thus we will have more people to kill angry spiders with, come MS:C.



If you want this for your server, download the following RAR file:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms135tutor.rar

If you need a rar unzipper, go here: http://www.rarsoft.com/download.htm



Unzip the ms135tutor.rar into your "\Steam\SteamApps\yourname\dedicated server\ms"

If you use a listen server, unzip them to "\Steam\SteamApps\yourname\half-life\ms"



Now, clients do have to download the graphics for the plaques, but you don't want them to have to download them from you, as they may lag your players a bit (plus it takes a hell of a lot longer). So thus, I offer, free of charge, custom server content hosting. Simply add to your server.cfg or listenserver.cfg, and/or type the following console command line:

sv_downloadurl "http://www.thothie.com/hlserv"

Clients will download the files they need from that site, instead of your server, ala the new Steam fast-downloads protocol.



I do content hosting for several servers, but it's usually pretty fast, and the files the clients need to download total around 300k, so it's hardly an issue.



Again, note: strictly for MS 1.35 - NOT for MS:C. You may want to backup your original Edana, in case you don't like the look of it - but, just in case your forget, a copy of the original Edana is included in the archive.



If it don't work for you, or you have problems with it, or suggestions for it, feel free to post here.



You'll notice in the screenshots my custom health vial. I'll release that along some other spiffed up sprites for MS, just as soon as I have a complete set.

__________

"Making life easier on the n00bs... That I may kill them and take their stuff."

Saint Thoth

 

[Kuroneko]

Neat!

 

[Liv]

I cant play in MS 1.35 because incorect CD-key :/. Can U add MS135.EXE not rar file?

 

[Kuroneko]

I cant play in MS 1.35 because incorect CD-key :/. Can U add MS135.EXE not rar file?

#1: Wrong place to say this

#2: Why do you need an exe?

 

[Thothie]

Liv, I don't think you'll be able to play anything on Steam without a proper CD-key. If you cant open the RAR file, click here and get yourself a rar unzipper: http://www.rarsoft.com/download.htm



He's got a point though, should really have a professional level exe installer for MS by now. I can't remember where, but there's a software packager that makes self-extracting archives specifically for Steam, and I believe it even uses an internal RAR format. I'll have to ask the Wizard War devs where they grabbed it - they have it on their beta-releases.



Also, RAR, while the best format for compression, surely, not the best for wide distros, since Windows has no internal support for it.

__________

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." - Martin Luthur King Jr

Saint Thoth

 

[Fluffy0388]

thoth i admire u lol just when i start to hate ur ideas u come up with a really good one this would have definetly helped me lol but sadly i had to learn the hard way good job thoth good job indeed lol

 

[Thothie]

(updated at 11:10pm 04/13/05, please redownload if you got a copy before then)



Alright, here's an exec installer for you:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/MS_v1.35_Enhanced.zip



This installer is actually "MS_v1.35_Enhanced.exe" located inside the zip file, as I can't store executables on my website for security reasons. It should extract quickly though, due to null compression. You can run it directly from inside the zip file, no problem.



It comes to about 38MB - which makes it about 20MB smaller than the RAR install. (Something about Null Soft's LMZA compression)



It warns you to close Steam before installing, finds your Steam folder on its own, and sticks the !msmanual.txt readme on your desktop, in hopes that you might actually read it.



I'm using the install now, and it seems to work fine. No promises though.



It includes the server enhancements listed in:

http://msremake.fragism.com/gl-bin/foru ... sc&start=0



It also includes the help banners shown in this thread, and a new health vial.



The banners, however, will only show up if you host a server, or join a server that is also using them.



I've added ms_timelimit 30 to the server and listenserver.cfg's to ensure any servers you create will change to Edana when empty.



Edit: Updated it to include the Dark Armor Helmet files and the rest of the supplimentary Steam patch package. Also updated to a spiffier looking installer that's about the same size, and puts the readme file IN YO FACE after install is complete. I also added J-M's advice on how to start your own server to the readme file. And yes, now it even adds a "Play Mastersword" icon to your desktop (finally).



If the devs want it, I'll make a 'pure' version of the installer, sans the server enhancements, although they'll have to host it themselves.



Prob shoulda made another thread... but oh well... Maybe after I make an automated character backup program to add to it, or somethin'. I should also figure how to fix that bug where servers appear as "1.25" - aren't they supposed to be 1.35? :\

__________

"Do you know your last name is an adverb?" - Johnny Dangerously

Saint Thoth

 

[Liv]

Thanks for zip file. I pley it on not Steam HL (v1.10.0) and mayby thath have some bug.

 

[Thothie]

I suspect like some of the clients who are STILL playing on my MSYAR server despite the messages everywhere telling them not to, your engrish not too good. Heh, no problem. (Actually, a lot of them know what's going on, but claim to be there simply because the other servers are empty)



I screwed up though, you wont be able to host a server with that setup. To fix that, download this self-installing fix:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms135edanafix.zip



Reason being, is I accidentally put my Edana with the warnings about the bad distro in that package. ><



I've fixed the original package, so if you've downloaded it after the date of this post, you don't need this edana fix. Hopefully it's just for Liv.



BTW why did the original distro have cl_showfps "1" in the userconfig, and then have the userconfig write protected so the user could never change it? (I hope there was no real reason, as I undid that)

__________

"Alas, Madam! How few books are there of which one can ever possibly arrive at the last page" - Piozzi: Anecdotes

Saint Thoth

 

[Liv]

Thanks for all. I advised already with this problem.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Thothie, the tip-card system is neatly done but please change the font. It takes about 0.01733 seconds per symbol longer to read which is annoying.



Now for a few questions:

- I've almost fixed my webserver, can you give me instructions how to set it up as a download location (sv_downloadurl)?

- Do you know a way to have HLDS auto-restart on crash? Manually restarting can be a bitch and I surely can't manually restart my server while I'm having dinner (timezone difference, blahblah, n00bs crashing me, etc. etc.)...

It comes to about 38MB - which makes it about 20MB smaller than the RAR install.

I also added J-M's advice on how to start your own server to the readme file.

I should also figure how to fix that bug where servers appear as "1.25" - aren't they supposed to be 1.35? :\

liblist.gam says "1.3" so I'm guessing the DLL says "1.25" somewhere <_<

BTW why did the original distro have cl_showfps "1" in the userconfig, and then have the userconfig write protected so the user could never change it? (I hope there was no real reason, as I undid that)

That would be me... I like cl_showfps myself but I didn't keep in mind that others might not... Sorry

 

[Thothie]

It maybe just me who doesn't like the FPS thing, as I've got my 6800 Ultra OC, so I just assume everything in HL is maxed out; although I dunno why you write protected the file. (maybe you rar'd from a CD?)



I guess I'd have to h4x the DLL to fix the 1.25 bug, which may cause issues.



And yeah, I realize that font is way too hard to read. I wanted something that looked kinda fancy and medieval but it also had to be small enough to fit that much text. Despite all my years in the desktop publishing field, that was the best compromise I could come up with. :/ Maybe I should give up on the "fancy and medieval" and just do the ones with more text in Arial Narrow.



Setting up your own custom server content web site is one of the few things in Steam that works like it should. (Probably the only one I can think of off hand). It's quite easy. Point your sv_downloadurl to your custom content server like so:



sv_downloadurl "http://www.thothie.com/hlserv"



Here's the directory tree at "http://www.thothie.com/hlserv":

hlserv\gfx

hlserv\maps

hlserv\models

hlserv\sound

hlserv\sprites

hlserv\sound\duckhunt

hlserv\sound\mooncheese

hlserv\models\duckhunt

hlserv\models\player

hlserv\models\player\pac_ghost

hlserv\models\player\pacman

hlserv\sprites\duckhunt

hlserv\sprites\mstutor

Pretty self explanatory, the required files go into those folders. (You'll note there's custom content for multiple servers here)



Then you need RES files for each map describing each file. RES files go into your server's "maps" folder and match the name of the associated map. The RES file does not need to be uploaded to the custom content site (but it doesn't hurt anything if you do).



The edana.res file for the mstutor sprites looks like so:

sprites/mstutor/trans.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstgive.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstarrow256.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstforum.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstmerc.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstpacks.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstsave.spr

sprites/mstutor/msthp.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstname.spr

sprites/mstutor/mstnpcs.spr

Another example, for the TFC map: mooncheese.res

mooncheese.wad

maps/mooncheese.txt

sound/mooncheese/r_anthem.wav

sound/mooncheese/a_anthem.wav

(Note: res files use forward slashes, ala http.)



If the client has a filename that matches a file that the res file tells him to download, sometimes it will download and overwrite his existing file, and sometimes it wont. This is the one place where the process seems unpredictable, other than this, it's pretty consistent. Occasionally it will also, for whatever reason, download the same file twice.



If you want a banner for your custom content server add:

hlserv\gfx\banner.gif



This must be a 256 color gif 340x56 pixels (local pallets acceptable). I've not tried an animated gif - it may work too (be interesting to see). You can download an example here: http://www.thothie.com/hlserv/gfx/banner.gif



If you make custom content, I highly recommend making sure the custom content has its own folder, so as not to interfere with any future additions to whatever game you make it for. (For instance, the mstutor files are in their own sub folder of "sprites", and not simply IN "sprites")



Auto-restarting the server sadly, I never did figure out how to auto-restart a GUI based HLDS server, since it requires that you click a button. If you use a pure HLDS server, you can simply make a batch file for it as Lord K pointed out, inspiring this example:

@echo off 

title Master Sword HLDS Restart 

:hlds 

echo (%time%) hlds started. 

start /wait hlds.exe -console -game ms -port 27016 +map edana +maxplayers 10 -noipx -condebug

echo (%time%) WARNING: hlds closed or crashed, restarting. 

goto hlds

You'd stick this in your "dedicated server" folder and run it from there. This would only function in XP/2k - probably not in Windows 98SE or lower.

__________

"Dis answer question?" - 'Dragon Lady' to Daffy Duck

Saint Thoth

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Thanks a million! I already knew how to make RES files but damn you know alot about them



Edit: The auto-restart thing doesn't work. I literally copied the text, saved as a BATCH file in /dedicated server and when I run it I get a bullshit message saying Steam.dll cannot be found.



Edit 2: I copied Steam.dll to /dedicated server and now a console window pops up (titled Console ) saying "Console initialized." but it's immediately followed by a fatal error (titled "Fatal error - Dedicated server") saying "W_LoadWadFile: couldn't load gfx.wad".



Edit 3: Okay, so I copied gfx.wad from an old Half-Life install (WON install, still have it on my pc) to /dedicated server/ms and now I get this:

The "Console" window says

Console initialized.

WARNING: W_LoadWadFile, couldn't load fonts.wad

And I get yet another error message saying

"Couldn't find 'decals.wad' in "DEFAULTGAME" search path"

*sigh*



Edit 4: 'fonts.wad' in /dedicated server/ms fixes that problem but I can't find out where I should place 'decals.wad'... Suggestions?

 

[Thothie]

Well, ya got past the hard part. The last thing you need to do, is open your Steam\SteamApps\Half-Life.GCF file, and decompress the whole valve folder to \dedicated server\valve. The pure dedicated server isn't smart enough to look into the GCF valve half-life files it needs, so you have to decompress the thing. You will have to close Steam first.



If you don't have it already, you will need a GCF browser, such as GCF scape:

http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=26



See how much simpler things are with Steam? I mean, Won was such a pain.

__________

“The great masses of the people... more easily fall victims to a big lie than a small one.” -— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

Saint Thoth

 

[Thothie]

Oh yeah, while I'm at it:



MS 1.35 DLL fix (Makes MS identify properly, as v1.35):

http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms_dll_135_fix.zip



Client's still find server fine, and doesn't seem to mess anything up.

__________

"My boyfriend only has a few minute flaws, but I don't want to fowl up the good things about him by trying to change him - if only I could hexedit him." - H4x0r g4l

Saint Thoth

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

I downloaded the DLL and replaced the old one with it and it didn't work.



And fortunately I have GCFScape on my PC so I'll try that in a few. Thanks again



Edit: Sweet! The server thing works like a charm!

*J-M hugs old HLDS console*

As you can see I changed the text a bit



Thanks yet again Thothie!

 

[Thothie]

The 1.35ID dedicated server patch didn't work? :\



ms.dll file should be in: "Steam\SteamApps\username\dedicated server\ms\dlls"



Hmmm... I wonder if we have different versions of the DLL somehow...



If that's the case, I found it easy enough to hex edit, maybe you can fix yours via hexedit:

http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/f ... /xvi32.htm



Just search for "v1.25", change 2 to 3, and you should be good to go.



Very odd that it wouldn't work though... I'm fairly certain that the basis for my install is actually your Rar install. Seems I never see your server either, though I see Hell's and lots of others... hmmmmm...

__________

"If you go flying back through time and you see somebody else flying forward into the future, it's probably best to avoid eye contact."

Saint Thoth

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

My timezone is GMT +1 (Holland) and my server is only up when I'm behind my PC so that explains it.



And yeah, I placed the DLL in the right folder but it didn't do anything unfortunately.



Oh and I'm sure my server works though

Had tons of clients.

 

[Cernobylsky]

I have same problem with HLDS so bad

 

[Thothie]

Ah, I found the problem with that DLL... I put my client's unmodified DLL into the damn zip file... My bad!



Anyways, here it is, fixed:

http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms_dll_135_fix.zip



Yeah, getting that HLDS working right is certainly a pain, and it's also much more of a resource hog than the older ones (but again, every revision's been that way - particularly for Linux). I'll write up a complete guide for it sometime, since the Steam support articles on the subject are very vague and incomplete.



I still haven't gone through the pain-in-the-ass process of making an auto-updater for it. That looks like a nightmare in and of itself (and something that could potentially invalidate your Steam account on accident). Think I'll just do it manually...

__________

"Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed." - Albert Einstein

Saint Thoth

 

[ThE_DiViXioN]

woah nice!... That need's a lot of coding ? right ?...

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

That one works, thanks Thothie!



By the way:

It comes to about 38MB - which makes it about 20MB smaller than the RAR install.

- Which installer did you use?

- Is it free?

- Where can I get it?

- Is it easy to use?

 

[Cernobylsky]

Thothie : Thx. much my HLDS now works

 

[Thothie]

NP Cernob... Still haven't written the guide, so you figured most of that out on your own.



As for the installer:



I used the NSIS executable installer that I've used in the past... It's not particularly easy to use... But, I've seen worse - and it works better than most.



It is freeware, and you can snag it here:

http://nsis.sourceforge.net/



This is a wonderful little editor is a must for it, it includes a wizard that's fairly competent at getting you good templates for installers:

http://hmne.sourceforge.net/



Here's the not-necessarily intuitive code you'll need to snag the Steam Half-life folder and SteamExe from the registry. Tack it on the end of your NSI script:

;-------------------------------- 

;Functions 



Function .onInit 



; -------------------------- 

; Sets out mod path 

; -------------------------- 



StrCpy $0 "\half-life\ms" 



; -------------------------------- 

; Gets path to Half-Life 1 mods folder 

; -------------------------------- 



ReadRegStr $R0 HKCU "Software\Valve\Steam" ModInstallPath 

StrCmp $R0 "" NotPresent Present 



NotPresent: 

Goto Done 



; -------------------------------- 

; Circumcises it :) 

; -------------------------------- 

Present: 

StrLen $R3 $R0 

loop: 

 	IntOp $R1 $R1 - 1 

 	IntCmp $R1 -$R3 exit exit 

 	StrCpy $R2 $R0 1 $R1 

 	StrCmp $R2 "\" exit 

Goto loop 

exit: 

StrCpy $R0 $R0 $R1 

StrCpy $INSTDIR "$R0$0" 



; -------------------------------- 

; Grabs SteamExe location for creating desktop shortcut 

; -------------------------------- 

ReadRegStr $R0 HKCU "Software\Valve\Steam" SteamExe 

StrCpy $1 $R0 



; -------------------------------- 

; Defines params for shortcut 

; -------------------------------- 

StrCpy $2 "-applaunch 70 -game ms" 



; -------------------------------- 

; Converts "/" to "\" in string for use with shortcut 

; -------------------------------- 

StrLen $0 $1 

IntOp $6 $6 - 1 

Bloop: 

 	IntOp $6 $6 + 1 

 	IntCmp $6 $0 Bexit 

 	StrCpy $R2 $1 1 $6 

 	StrCmp $R2 "/" change nochange 

 	change: 

 		StrCpy $R2 "\" 

 	nochange: 

 		StrCpy $R6 $R6$R2 

Goto Bloop 

Bexit: 

StrCpy $1 $R6 



MessageBox MB_OK "If Steam is running, close it now, and click OK" 



Done: 



FunctionEnd 



;add to install section this code: 

;CreateShortCut "$DESKTOP\Play Master Sword.lnk" "$1" "$2" "$INSTDIR\MS.ico" 

;CreateShortCut "$DESKTOP\Master Sword 1.35 Readme.lnk" "$INSTDIR\!msmanual.txt"

And yes, I am a sloppy ass coder (although top half, not entirely my fault, and this forum is doing funky things with my tabs).



Finally, here's a link to the entire script for the installer I put together (mostly from the HMNIS wizard):

http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms135_installer.nsi.txt



I didn't include an uninstaller in this script, but it will overwrite files, so there should be no need to uninstall in case of update.



edit: here is the MUI_SPECIALBITMAP.bmp I used for the installer pic (It's just a screen cap of as section of the game menu artwork):

http://www.thothie.com/ms/MUI_SPECIALBITMAP.bmp

This is provided as a format example. Should be 8-bit (local palettes acceptable) and 164x314.



(mui_headerbitmap doesn't actually get used - you can rem that line)



And the installer icon (NSIS only takes very primitve 16-color icons for itself, so I couldn't use the icon that is included in the MS install - you can use any format icon for desktop icons though):

http://www.thothie.com/ms/sword.ico

Again, provided only as a format example.



Screenie of the installer itself:



__________

"There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and BSD. We don't believe this to be a coincidence." - Jeremy S. Anderson

Saint Thoth

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Wow