===> 0.4 Suggestions - Post here your suggestions

[Franklin]

onPlayerSpawnBlocked

This would be more variety in the servers (FPS STYLE)

[stormeus]

onPlayerSpawnBlocked

This would be more variety in the servers (FPS STYLE)

Scripts have the ability to block a player from spawning. It would make no sense to have a callback for it when the scripts know if someone is getting blocked or not.

[Franklin]

onPlayerSpawnBlocked

This would be more variety in the servers (FPS STYLE)

Scripts have the ability to block a player from spawning. It would make no sense to have a callback for it when the scripts know if someone is getting blocked or not.

How?

[stormeus]

onPlayerSpawnBlocked

This would be more variety in the servers (FPS STYLE)

Scripts have the ability to block a player from spawning. It would make no sense to have a callback for it when the scripts know if someone is getting blocked or not.

How?

New callback: onPlayerRequestSpawn. Returning false in it stops the player from spawning. This has been implemented for a while, since Beta 1 even.

[hh1729]

I thought of many suggestions in the past days and when i looked at the list of callbacks and functions, i was satisfied as many of my suggestion was already there.

1. Unicode Support if possible. I know there is problems. Most important one. Not all unicode letters we actually do not need. But the important ones. Please try developers.
2. Bots are impossible. right? But that would have shared a major part.

3. Sending key combinations to players. Server able to press a key of a client programically.
<Edit>No examples of this are getting in my mind now. But i will tell you why i had thought of this
In 0.3 there is no function to put a player in his vehicle as a passenger. So in some situations, i want the player to press tab. But if he is not pressing it, the server should send the key to the client. Anyhow, in 0.4 the problem is solved as we can put a player in any slot we want. But i wonder, similar situations arises especially in RPG, where we want the client to press a key forcefully. </Edit>

I will try to include more in future...

4. Considering client's privacy, please remove the message argument from the onPrivateMessage.
                  OnPrivateMessage(int nPlayerId, int nTargetId, const char* pszText)

5. Two events instead of some of special events.
Eg. void OnPlayerEnterVehicle(int nPlayerId, int nVehicleId, int nSlotId) is called when the player begins to enter the vehicle, if there was another event, which gets called after player enters the vehicle and shut the door. I use timers to do this. But as you know it is not a good idea.

6. The animation player drags the driver of the vehicle out.
<Edit> Let me explain it if you did not got it. In single player, when we go near a vehicle and press enter, tommy drags out the driver of the vehicle out. Just an animation. Likewise, if a player is in vehicle, another player should be able to drag him out of his vehicle if it is not locked!.</Edit>
7. Function to open and close doors of vehicles
8. Electric gates close and open with animation? I mean the movement of some objects.

Some of the functions seems very simple that some of us may think who want those functions. But you will find yourself in need of that at some point of time.

9. Passenger also should be able to driveby
10. Firetruck ability to extinguish fire. (Already added?)

11. Remember, swats coming down from helicopters using a rope?
It would be nice to come out from a helicopter using a rope. Can it be done?

12. Another suggestion - enabling players to walking like skaters.

[Fuzzy168]

11. Remember, swats coming down from helicopters using a rope?
It would be nice to come out from a helicopter using a rope. Can it be done?
12. Another suggestion - enabling players to walking like skaters.

+1

[stormeus]

The thing with rappelling from a helicopter is that it's typically associated with a dummy helicopter that crashes in VC:MP, and not a real Police Maverick. It would also require some reverse-engineering that I can't do by myself, so it's not highly likely to make it into 0.4. Passenger driveby also does not have any actual animation for a player to hang out the window and shoot like in San Andreas, so to implement that would mean major changes to the underlying game engine or shots appearing out of the vehicles where it wouldn't make sense.

Fire extinguishing can be added. Animation looping can be looked into.

[Franklin]

accesories like samp 

[stormeus]

accesories like samp 

This doesn't exist in the base game, so it wouldn't exist in VC:MP.

[Franklin]

accesories like samp 

This doesn't exist in the base game, so it wouldn't exist in VC:MP.

like the buildings added in the beta 2 >.>, I'm sure that you guys can add it or at least put a variable for that we can put it in our servers.

[stormeus]

accesories like samp 

This doesn't exist in the base game, so it wouldn't exist in VC:MP.

like the buildings added in the beta 2 >.>, I'm sure that you guys can add it or at least put a variable for that we can put it in our servers.

Alright, to clarify, until attaching objects to players is figured out, customization isn't possible because it's not in the base game. Customization in single player is nothing more than using a special player skin.

[Franklin]

accesories like samp 

This doesn't exist in the base game, so it wouldn't exist in VC:MP.

like the buildings added in the beta 2 >.>, I'm sure that you guys can add it or at least put a variable for that we can put it in our servers.

Alright, to clarify, until attaching objects to players is figured out, customization isn't possible because it's not in the base game. Customization in single player is nothing more than using a special player skin.

maybe vcmp someday will have things that are not implanted in the base game =)

[hh1729]

I thought of many suggestions in the past days and when i looked at the list of callbacks and functions, i was satisfied as many of my suggestion was already there.

1. Unicode Support if possible. I know there is problems. Most important one. Not all unicode letters we actually do not need. But the important ones. Please try developers.
2. Bots are impossible. right? But that would have shared a major part.

3. Sending key combinations to players. Server able to press a key of a client programically.
<Edit>No examples of this are getting in my mind now. But i will tell you why i had thought of this
In 0.3 there is no function to put a player in his vehicle as a passenger. So in some situations, i want the player to press tab. But if he is not pressing it, the server should send the key to the client. Anyhow, in 0.4 the problem is solved as we can put a player in any slot we want. But i wonder, similar situations arises especially in RPG, where we want the client to press a key forcefully. </Edit>

I will try to include more in future...

4. Considering client's privacy, please remove the message argument from the onPrivateMessage.
                  OnPrivateMessage(int nPlayerId, int nTargetId, const char* pszText)

5. Two events instead of some of special events.
Eg. void OnPlayerEnterVehicle(int nPlayerId, int nVehicleId, int nSlotId) is called when the player begins to enter the vehicle, if there was another event, which gets called after player enters the vehicle and shut the door. I use timers to do this. But as you know it is not a good idea.

6. The animation player drags the driver of the vehicle out.
<Edit> Let me explain it if you did not got it. In single player, when we go near a vehicle and press enter, tommy drags out the driver of the vehicle out. Just an animation. Likewise, if a player is in vehicle, another player should be able to drag him out of his vehicle if it is not locked!.</Edit>
7. Function to open and close doors of vehicles
8. Electric gates close and open with animation? I mean the movement of some objects.

Some of the functions seems very simple that some of us may think who want those functions. But you will find yourself in need of that at some point of time.

9. Passenger also should be able to driveby
10. Firetruck ability to extinguish fire. (Already added?)

11. Remember, swats coming down from helicopters using a rope?
It would be nice to come out from a helicopter using a rope. Can it be done?

12. Another suggestion - enabling players to walking like skaters.

13. Please consider these events
onPlayerShootVehicle(player,vehicle);//tyres, glasses, .. vehicle parts
onPlayerExplodeVehicle(player,vehicle,weapon)
onVehicleHitObject(vehicle,object)
onVehicleHitPlayer(vehicle,player)
onVehicleHitVehicle(vehicle1,vehicle2);//nice if vehicle parts also are there
onVehicleUpsideDown(vehicle)
onVehicleCatchFire(vehicle)
onVehicleStop(vehicle)
onFireTruckExtinguishFire(vehicle)
onFireTruckThrowsWaterOverPlayer(vehicle,player)
onFireTruckThrowsWaterOverVehicle(firetruck,vehicle)
onVehicleFallOnWater(vehicle)
onPlayerFallOnWater(player)
onPlayerTiredOfSprinting(player)
onVehicleHitSpikes(vehicle)
onVehicleTyresGetDeflated(player)

SetMaxSprintingTime(int time)
Some functions of VCA like
SetPlayerWalkTo(Vector pos),
SetPlayerAttackPlayer(player),etc..

[stormeus]

Almost all of those events and functions (except for fires and fire extinguishing, probably) are going to be put off until 0.5. You (not just you, but a lot of people in this thread) are simply asking for too much, and while we'd love to add as many features as possible, we also have to deal with the fact that people are already annoyed by the fact that 0.4 hasn't even been released yet. And still some of these same people ask us to add more.

There comes a point where we have to stop taking suggestions and simply work on polishing what we've done. We're not at that point yet; we're probably getting close though.

[jansi]

Since I missed both beta tests I will talk only about things I have access to - VCMP files and videos on YouTube. More specifically the user interface of 0.4.


1. Scoreboard

The purpose of the scoreboard is to quickly provide a specific information. In my opinion 0.3 does this perfectly - with a single, short key press I get everything I need. Which is not the case with the new scrolling system...
0.4 scoreboard (max 14 players on the screen)
0.3 scoreboard (max 50 players on the screen)
As you see, even on the lowest possible resolution, the old scoreboard provides 3 times more information than the new one. And if the new scoreboard expands on lower resolutions, it will still show less information - even with the old font (which is smaller than the new one) you can't squeeze data about 50 players in to one column.

Why is this so important? Because of the way I and probably others perceive the displayed information. Let's imagine I'm trying to find the ping of a player I want to fight with. In 0.3 I press one key, quickly scan the screen and try to notice the nick. If I don't find it, I scan again, but this time a bit slower. And only when I *think* I saw the nick, I focus my vision on his nick and then on his ping and finally release the key.
And now with the scrolling scoreboard it is a completely different situation. After how many failed scans should I assume the nick is not on the screen and I have to scroll to the next page? And what if I can't see the nick on the next page? Should I scan again, scroll forward or scroll back (maybe I missed him)? Also if the scrolling is done line-by-line not page-by-page, it gets even harder (try quickly scrolling a homogeneous text and stop at a specific position). In the end, instead of scanning, I have to focus on / read every line.

This is a waste of time, it can be dangerous if I need to check the scoreboard in the middle of a fight or chase/getaway (compare this to driving+texting vs driving+checking dashboard) and this kind of scoreboard has reduced usability and is an ineffective use of screen space.
So I would like to see the old scoreboard in the 0.4: full screen, compact, no scrolling, with 2 or even 3 columns of data.



2. Chat

After reading some other threads it seems to be impossible to dynamically (in-game) and quickly change the number of visible chat lines like it can be done now. Is there any reason for this other than "for the sake of change"? In my opinion the old system works pretty good.

If I play on a lower resolution, the available screen space is limited and I must choose what is more important at the moment - events in the game world or chat/socializing. So I change the number of visible chat lines accordingly. When on a medium resolution, I have a little bit more screen space available and can display both kinds of information. This is when the number of lines can remain unchanged. But when I play on a high resolution, I have enough screen space to display everything, so I increase the number of visible lines to the maximum.
Now in 0.4 I don't have this freedom anymore and am forced to use some average setting. Not good.

I will guess and say that all chat messages are kept in some kind of an array and only last n lines are printed on the screen (most likely using a loop). Why players are not allowed to change the max value of this loop with a key press anymore?

And, please, don't suggest using the console. First of all this does not solve the problem on low resolutions. Secondly it is not a solution at all but workaround for poor design choices. The console itself might be useful and OK but it can't replace the F7 key. To get the functionality of 0.3 I will need to:
1) make 2 additional key presses (to show and hide the console)
2) limit my vision
3) give up the option to maneuver while reading the chat (since keypresses will be redirected to the console)
4) make additional key presses to scroll the chat (haven't worked with the console so don't know about this one)


Other things regarding the chat:
1) It might be a personal preference but the font could be a bit narrower.
2) The "*> ... <*" in death messages is unnecessary clutter. If this is built in to the vcmp, it should be removed.



3. (Low-priority?) Server browser

The new server browser must be reworked. Right now it looks too unprofessional in comparison to the original 0.3 browser.
Some points that I have noticed, not in a particular order:

• Font used in the server list (Arial?) differs from the rest of the program (MS Sans Serif). Do not use different fonts if there is no good reason for it!
• The static information in the "Server Info" box should not be bolded. These texts are not important. Either do not use bold altogether or make the dynamic texts bolded.
• Misaligned, weirdly placed controls:
  
  • Player list and labels in server info box should have dynamic width. Labels in server info box should not go over the box border.
  • Server info and Players group boxes should have the same distance from the right border.
  • Players group box and TabControl should have the same distance from the bottom border.
  • The whole player list should be reworked. (Remove the group box? Reposition the list box? etc)
  • Most of the controls have 3D border, the player list box have no border style.
  • The left side of the server lists header has a 3D border, right side has a flat border.
  • The positioning of server lists scroll bar is just ugly...
  I know these are very small bits but together they all make the program look bad.
• There are unused controls - File>Import/Export Settings does not work; status bar shows no information.
• The nick edit box has been moved to the settings window; Instead of Click+Type we have to Click+Click+Click+Type+Click/Press_Enter :X
  As for new, unseen features I'd like to have a combobox instead of a text box to enter our nick. This combobox would contain a number of last used nicks.
• If you go for the clear, minimalist, no-icon interface, the Unlocked/Locked icons in the server list are not consistent with this kind of interface. Either make the whole interface a *little* more colorful (add icons to menus, add toolbar) or use less colorful/bright icons in the list (maybe even black and white).
• The program blocks while the server list is being updated. Normally it does not matter, but it is a completely different story when there is a problem with connection to the master server:
  
  • First of all the program simply hangs for 35(!) seconds. The program should either respond to user actions (open menus, show about box, etc) and/or give some kind of indication that the program is still working (progress bar/animation). The "Please wait..." is not enough. Actually the progress bar or two would be a good additon so the user can anticipate how much time the program still needs. Most importantly it should show the actual progress not some random animation (another dumb trend of modern systems)! Progress bar 1 would display the current step (connecting to master server, downloading server list, getting server information) and progress bar 2 would display the progress of each step. Something similar you see in most file archivers.
  • Secondly after the browser fails to connect to the master server, the message "Retrieving server list. Please wait" does not disappear.

As I said, this is a low[er] priority issue (at least for me the scoreboard and chat are more important) but it still should be addressed. And preferably before the release if you focus on attracting new players. The browser will have a huge impact on the first impression so the user interface MUST be polished!



This will be enough for now.