Developers: What is the problem with MS_PKLEVEL?

[Thothie]

I'll put this in the top five most annoying MS 1.35 bugs, and among the ones that might be resolvable... Issue is, ms_pklevel settings do not work unless you have a sucsessful map transition. This happens on every map, and every time the server restarts, forces a map change, or resets.



But what causes it?



...and is this even resolved in MS: C?



Having it set in the server.cfg don't help. You can even stick it on the command line that launches your server, and that don’t help.



There's a rumor about an ms_town entity that may fix it, but I can't find anything on it (as I only have the crappy hacked FGD). I even tried adding teams to maps and forcing all new players to the same team via trigger, but that didn't work either.



I think the issue might be solvable, either via amx plugin or map edits, if we had some clue as to what causes the bug to begin with.



...and does anyone even know? :/

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[Dogg]

ms_pklevel was added in 1.3. As I've told you via private message, the coder has since disappeared, along with that code. So I can't help much there.



In the earlier build that we based MS:C off of, there was no ms_pklevel. Now, in MS:C, it's been re-implemented in a way that works.

 

[Thothie]

Hmmm.... Damn...



Is there any entity that could affect the pk_level in your copy of the FGD? Maybe this can be fixed with some massive ripenting...

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[stevenlafl]

Hmmm.... Damn...



Is there any entity that could affect the pk_level in your copy of the FGD? Maybe this can be fixed with some massive ripenting...

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"Well, he's kind of had it in for me, since I accidently ran over his dog. Actually, replace 'accidently' with 'repeatedly', and replace 'dog' with 'son'." -Lionel Hutz

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I believe it is msarea_town. It is a solid ent.

usage is as follows:

It is a solid ent, keep in mind still.

{

"classname" "msarea_town"

"pkill" "0"

}



pkill 1 = ALLOW PKING

pkill 0 = DISALLOW PKING

 

[Thothie]

Hmmmmmmm.... That raises some questions:



Does the player have to be within the entity for it to work?

Does it merely set the player's PK level as he walks through it?

Does having this entity ANYWHERE on the map simply affect all players? (And if so, why is it not a point entity?)

Does this entity work at all in MS 1.35?



I realize Steve doesn't have the answer to any of that... But maybe someone else here does. Meanwhile, all I can do is put something together an experiment - too bad I've no bot to practice with.



I'll stick the ent onto Edana's fountain meantime. See if any clients notice an effect by combing the chat logs.

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[J-M v2.5.5]

msarea_town (maybe it can be found in some decompiled map, not sure) is a brush-based, non-solid (walk-through-able) brush that prevents (or at least should prevent) player killing.



I have never tried it, I've only heard of it. Just make a testmap with a huge brush in it tied to msarea_town, restart your server with it, get somebody who wants to test (I'd like to test it by the way) and try to kill him.

 

[stevenlafl]

msarea_pklevel (maybe it can be found in some decompiled map, not sure) is a brush-based, non-solid (walk-through-able) brush that prevents (or at least should prevent) player killing.



I have never tried it, I've only heard of it. Just make a testmap with a huge brush in it tied to msarea_pklevel, restart your server with it, get somebody who wants to test (I'd like to test it by the way) and try to kill him.

And what tells this msarea_pklevel to stop pk, or allow it?

There is no msarea_pklevel. It does not exist. I just checked.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

D'oh! Of course I mean msarea_town.

*Edits post*

My bad

 

[Thothie]

Well... The fountain in Edana on my server is now an msarea_town (in addition to being a gateroom transition). So if you get the chance to test it... Go ahead and tell me of your results.

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[Thothie]

Update: This did not work.



Apparently simply having the msarea_town on the map does not work, passing through it has no effect... Fighting IN it, I've yet to really test, but even if it does work that way, filling the entire map in msarea_town's is likely not a viable option.



Any other ideas? *sigh*

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[stevenlafl]

did you put it in the map configs?

try making it a point-entity..might work

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

I'm 100% sure that if it would work you'd have to be inside it. And there's no shame in drowning your map with msarea_town brushes.

 

[Dogg]

I'm not going to say this will work for sure, but....



msarea_town is meant to reverse the effect of PK.... only while you're touching it. So the whole map would have to be covered in it, yes. If someone is standing within it, then player attacks on him won't hit.



You might also try messing with "invertpk" (0/1), a property on the worldspawn which is meant to reverse the effect of msarea_town (From only prevent pk while touching townarea, to only allow PK while touching townarea).



Again, all this could be disabled or completely gone in 1.3. I don't know. But it was there in 1.25.

 

[Thothie]

Thanks for the input!

I'll look into it... Right now my server is down due to need to feed the Otaku beast.

Yeah, pk_level is setup in seperate map configs as well. I suppose I *could* flood maps with msarea_town's via ripent... but, I dunno, I just see it causing problems, somehow.

I can see what adding the inverse option to the worldspawn does... Although I'm afraid it will enable PK on those rare occasions where a natural transition is succseful.
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