Will Multiplayer be an option?

Draken Stark · Post by **Draken Stark** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:15 am

I was wondering, will this version of Privateer Remake support a LAN Multiplayer option in the future at all?

Post by **hellcatv** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:23 am

the current version only supports splitscreen

blue_paladin42 · Post by **blue_paladin42** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:39 pm

That has been brought up before, but, although I am no programmer, I know anything LAN involved would be a tricky business. Would be kickass though.

Master Pat · Post by **Master Pat** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:21 pm

How does the split screen work?

z30 · Post by **z30** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:58 am

Master Pat wrote:How does the split screen work?

Bump. Would like to know as well

I noticed that I had to tweak my firewall to let PR have access to the localhost address - it like the game has a client/server component already so some of the basic building blocks for multiplayer are there somewhere in the code.

ps. Even with the downgraded AI, I love the auto-turrets on my Gal. Can't live without em now. Every little bit helps when you're a merchanter facing hostile ships with superior speed, manueverability and firepower. I imagine this would apply doubly in multi-player mode since most players will pick fighters.

Post by **hellcatv** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 7:04 am

you have to edit explore_universe.mission (make a backup)
and add
<var name="num_players" value="2"/>
to the variables section
<flightgroup name="green" faction="privateer" type="tarsus.begin" ainame="default" waves="1" nr_ships="1">
<pos x="18068.451" y="-60.189" z="-371.339"/>
<rot x="180.0" y="180.0" z="180.0"/>
<order order="tmptarget" target="omikron"/>
<order priority="0" order="superiority" target="enemy"/>
<order priority="1" order="bomber" target="omikron"/>
<order priority="2" order="escort" target="blue"/>
</flightgroup>
into the flightgroups section
then start
vegastrike.exe -n2
to load from vegastrike.config.2player
which should contain the keybindings for both players (player 0 and player 1)

if you need an example vegastrike.config.2player I could cook one up, but it may be included

z30 · Post by **z30** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:11 am

hellcatv wrote:you have to edit explore_universe.mission (make a backup)
and add
<var name="num_players" value="2"/>

if you need an example vegastrike.config.2player I could cook one up, but it may be included

I can't wait to try this - got a couple of friends who're into the space trade/war stuff, this is great

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:57 pm

You can also try a mmorpg that is similiar to it. Not wanting to get banned or in trouble I am not going to name any, but look around and youll find something. Never tried Privateer, any good?

Duke Derek · Post by **Duke Derek** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:59 pm

Never tried Privateer, any good?

what are you doing in the PR forums then?

</joke>

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:44 pm

No no, thats a perfectly fair question! Again I shall name no names, but a friend I know in a certain online game that wont be mentioned, posted in here to point out that it could be an alternative to anyone wanting a multiplayer version. I popped in to see, but it got deleted for violating the forum rules. Up until then I had never heard of it, or Vega Strike

Obelisk · Post by **Obelisk** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:48 pm

I asked the same thing about a year ago and was told that it was way off in the wings of planning if it ever wouldd be. If you long for a multi game like this there is only one I know of. Jumpgate is a free dl with ten free days of server access, check it out if you want multi. http://www.jossh.com

cubeboy · Post by **cubeboy** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:56 pm

Why hello, there, spam...

Honestly, the closest thing to a multiplayer version of this would be Freelancer, but it's pretty old, now. It's the last game that the Roberts brothers made, and has a pretty good storyline, and, from what I hear, pretty good multiplayer servers. Though I don't think that many of them run a non-modded version of the game.

As for MP in this game... I'd have to look through the codebase(which I really don't want to do now, too busy, unfortunately), but I think that the LAN code doesn't even exist at this point.

There are a LOT of varibles that need to be ironed out before that becomes a reality, including what is stored on the server, what the server is doing every time you take off or land(this is tricker than it sounds-imagine having 30 people landing and taking off at the same time in one system), ship balance, etc.

Honestly, I'd be satisfied with a good SP game right now.

Post by **klauss** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 1:13 pm

If you look close, around the development forum, you'll see that there's already a prototyped multiplayer mode. It's up for testing before further development. Right now, there are problems with inter/extrapolation, I think. But... it's there. I guess eventually it will become playable, and when that happens, PR will become multiplayer.

Ge0rgy · Post by **Ge0rgy** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:09 pm

wow...

nice to hear that there is at least something.

well... even it is not really easy to handle LAN-stuff, among different platforms also, i think it would give the game a bit like the dot on the i.

i mean, LAN-partys are growing in popularity.
so why not play a game like this on a lan.

surely it would be not that easy to balance.

but imagine a game mode like "multiplayer shootout" where one player, the "server" decides the ship, starsystem and equipment to use (or choose among a set of defaults) and then the game starts with X players which all have the same ships and can duel in space.

or maybe team-mode where players can be asigned to "wings" and then the last survivor wins the battle for his wing.

so well, there are a lot of possibilitys to make a whole lot of fun out of this game if it would be multi-player capable.

so if there is a prototype, great! thanks a lot to the people who have worked on this.

and let's all hope the work there will continue!

i'll really appreciate a MP mode.

many games are played on LANs and give much fun. But nearly none of them is free!
so this would be also a point to show people that open source is great! and can make as much fun as any commercial game!

if i get my studies started and running well, i'd love to help in this area

greetings,
Ge0rgy

Draken Stark · Post by **Draken Stark** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:23 am

Ge0rgy wrote:wow...

nice to hear that there is at least something.

well... even it is not really easy to handle LAN-stuff, among different platforms also, i think it would give the game a bit like the dot on the i.

i mean, LAN-partys are growing in popularity.
so why not play a game like this on a lan.

surely it would be not that easy to balance.

but imagine a game mode like "multiplayer shootout" where one player, the "server" decides the ship, starsystem and equipment to use (or choose among a set of defaults) and then the game starts with X players which all have the same ships and can duel in space.

or maybe team-mode where players can be asigned to "wings" and then the last survivor wins the battle for his wing.

so well, there are a lot of possibilitys to make a whole lot of fun out of this game if it would be multi-player capable.

so if there is a prototype, great! thanks a lot to the people who have worked on this.
and let's all hope the work there will continue!

i'll really appreciate a MP mode.

many games are played on LANs and give much fun. But nearly none of them is free!
so this would be also a point to show people that open source is great! and can make as much fun as any commercial game!

if i get my studies started and running well, i'd love to help in this area

greetings,
Ge0rgy

I'd think more of using the accual open-ended part of the game itself.

How I'd think of it is kind of like this:
One player (Bob) desides to play a single player game of Privateer...
Later on his friends (James and Fred) call his house and want to come over...
While James and fred are on their way, Bob quickly docks at a base and clicks a button in the options menu that says "alow other players to join"...
James and Fred arrive, each turn on a comp and loads Privateer...
(Now James and Fred are both done with the normal campains of Privateer, but Bob has just started.)
When James and Fred are docked at a base they both click on the join game button (also in an options menu)...
Bob is happy that his friends are now with him to play on the really hard (for Bob at least) Pirate missions, but James and Fred are a little unhappy at having to go through these missions all over again...
Fred is a little too unhappy and desides to pick a dogfight with Bob while James is docked at New Constantanople...
Bob quickly retaliates and blows Fred to hell...
Fred respawns at nearby Base and desides he's had his fun (because Fred is tired of having to find the other two all over again)...
James and Bob have stoped doing the campain because Fred would know where to go and find them (oviously James and Bob deside not to tell Fred where they are)...
James wants to continue gaining money so he desides to Accept a job at a nearby base...
Bob pacently waits outside the base in his ship while James finds a desent mission (Because only James is accepting this mission only he will get the money earned, but he may share his money with Bob when they both dock at a base later)...
Bob follows James during his mission and helps by shooting down some pirates and retros...
Fred finally finds Bob and James getting their ---- blown out of them by the overwheming amount of kilrathi ships in one of the blockade systems, so Fred desides to help his friends and they all get blown up any way...
Due to Freds actions at the last battle James and Bob deside to forgive him and they all team up and start to blow things to hell ever after... the end.

So... any questions?

Draken Stark · Post by **Draken Stark** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:38 am

cubeboy wrote:As for MP in this game... I'd have to look through the codebase(which I really don't want to do now, too busy, unfortunately), but I think that the LAN code doesn't even exist at this point.

There are a LOT of varibles that need to be ironed out before that becomes a reality, including what is stored on the server, what the server is doing every time you take off or land(this is tricker than it sounds-imagine having 30 people landing and taking off at the same time in one system), ship balance, etc.

Honestly, I'd be satisfied with a good SP game right now.

On the note of online play; I think it's pushing a little too early in comparision of LAN (lan is a step however). I do agree with you on the ironing of things, but this whole thread is more about planing (in my opinion) wheither or not multiplayer will be possible.

On the note of 30 people playing on one server; 30 is a really big number if you think about it. I would think more along the line of a limit of... maybe 4 to 6 people on a server. Possibly more if the user is able to choose a limit for the local server. Oviously the more players the less stability, so I'd really suggest a much fewer number than 30, maybe at most 16.

Duke Derek · Post by **Duke Derek** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:16 am

im thinking maybe 30 or so people all over Gemini (say), chances are there wont be too many people in the same system at once, unless it was orchestrated. i still just love the idea of escorting/being escorted by a friend, it would add such an awesome element, ie, either intelligent wingmen who are useful, or an intelligent transport that isnt (so much like) a sitting duck.

chasing a bounty on a human player's head would be wicked too

i unfortunately done think user/clan/faction/whatever controlled bases would be much of a possibility, what with people needing to sleep and all, garrisoning it would become something of a day job...

Draken Stark · Post by **Draken Stark** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:56 am

Maybe in the distant future there will be a mmog version of this game.

I just came to thinking maybe this tread should be put on as a sticky due the somewhat helpful splitscreen explanation and the large interest in multiplayer.

Duke Derek · Post by **Duke Derek** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:50 pm

i've had a wonderful idea:

as far as i remember it's quite easy to connect two keyboards to a computer, and it is also fairly easy to connect two monitors also, so one could play split screen with half the image being sent to each monitor (or, what i used to do with my playstation, send the same display to two TVs and then mask half the screen)

would it be possible to connect two keyboards and two mice and have them as p1 and p2's interfaces?

z30 · Post by **z30** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:47 pm

Duke Derek wrote:im thinking maybe 30 or so people all over Gemini (say), chances are there wont be too many people in the same system at once, unless it was orchestrated. i still just love the idea of escorting/being escorted by a friend, it would add such an awesome element, ie, either intelligent wingmen who are useful, or an intelligent transport that isnt (so much like) a sitting duck.

Cooperative multiplay is the best imho. As you described, you team up with your friends and take difficult missions. Well scripted scenarios for this type of play plus the need to make your ships work together well results in gameplay that can't be matched.

blue_paladin42 · Post by **blue_paladin42** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:04 pm

Hmmm. A guy in a centurion, a guy in a Demon, mabye an orion, all escorting a drayman. That would be really kicking.

Draken Stark · Post by **Draken Stark** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:51 am

I wrote: I'd think more of using the accual open-ended part of the game itself.

How I'd think of it is kind of like this:
One player (Bob) desides to play a single player game of Privateer...
Later on his friends (James and Fred) call his house and want to come over...
While James and fred are on their way, Bob quickly docks at a base and clicks a button in the options menu that says "alow other players to join"...
James and Fred arrive, each turn on a comp and loads Privateer...
(Now James and Fred are both done with the normal campains of Privateer, but Bob has just started.)
When James and Fred are docked at a base they both click on the join game button (also in an options menu)...
Bob is happy that his friends are now with him to play on the really hard (for Bob at least) Pirate missions, but James and Fred are a little unhappy at having to go through these missions all over again...
Fred is a little too unhappy and desides to pick a dogfight with Bob while James is docked at New Constantanople...
Bob quickly retaliates and blows Fred to hell...
Fred respawns at nearby Base and desides he's had his fun (because Fred is tired of having to find the other two all over again)...
James and Bob have stoped doing the campain because Fred would know where to go and find them (oviously James and Bob deside not to tell Fred where they are)...
James wants to continue gaining money so he desides to Accept a job at a nearby base...
Bob pacently waits outside the base in his ship while James finds a desent mission (Because only James is accepting this mission only he will get the money earned, but he may share his money with Bob when they both dock at a base later)...
Bob follows James during his mission and helps by shooting down some pirates and retros...
Fred finally finds Bob and James getting their ---- blown out of them by the overwheming amount of kilrathi ships in one of the blockade systems, so Fred desides to help his friends and they all get blown up any way...
Due to Freds actions at the last battle James and Bob deside to forgive him and they all team up and start to blow things to hell ever after... the end.

hellcatv, I'd like to 'read' your thoughts on this "story example"?

Vega Strike Forums

Will Multiplayer be an option?

Will Multiplayer be an option?

That was my ide... oh yaa, nevermind