UT2kX [ServerActor] Try More Mods (getting more players to try non-standard servers)

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Wormbo

Administrator
Staff member
Jun 4, 2001
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www.koehler-homepage.de
This server actor monitors the "standard servers only" checkbox in the server browser of the players and ensures they are reminded once in a while to uncheck it. It has no effect whatsoever on the server's gameplay or whitelisting status.

The general idea is to encourage players to give non-standard servers a try, especially now that the community is shrinking in size. Epic already added a reminder message that pops up after 10 games with the "standard servers only" check box enabled. However, that reminder shows exactly once and never again. To ensure people won't forget about it, this mod resets the counter so the reminder will show up again. To reach the maximum number of players, it needs to be installed on as many standard and non-standard servers as possible, though.

Why non-standard servers? Well, players might join servers not only via the server browser, but potentially also through links on a website. If more servers run this mod, more players will be reminded to try non-standard servers once in a while.
 

Attachments

  • TryMoreMods.zip
    2.7 KB · Views: 12

Arnox

UT99/2004 Mod Crazy
Mar 26, 2009
1,601
5
38
Beyond
I don't know. While this sounds good on paper, I think a lot of players would just consider it annoying in practice.
 

Arnox

UT99/2004 Mod Crazy
Mar 26, 2009
1,601
5
38
Beyond
Care to elaborate the "annoying" part?
Well, it's a message that they didn't ask for that pops up regularly that has no bearing on the gameplay at hand with no way to shut it off besides the server admin doing so. Perhaps something less in your face would be good.

Maybe something as simple as a regular chat message popping up, reminding everyone to play on more non-standard servers would work nicely.
 

_Lynx

Strategic Military Services
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Dec 5, 2003
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I'm going to set-up a CTF/JB/Assault server and will get that one in. BTW, what is considered a standard server? Standard gametypes?

Well, it's a message that they didn't ask for that pops up regularly that has no bearing on the gameplay at hand with no way to shut it off besides the server admin doing so. Perhaps something less in your face would be good.

Well, it's not like it stays on the screen forever - you just click "ok" or "close" and it's gone. And then it doesn't come up for another 10 games. My guess is most players will see it just once in a day.
 
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Wormbo

Administrator
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Jun 4, 2001
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Arnox, you may have misunderstood. Epic themselves built in a message to remind people to try turning off the "Standard Servers Only" checkbox in the server browser. They count the number of times the Internet Server Browser was initialized (not opened or refreshed, that usually happens once every UT2004 session because the server browser stays open in the background) and pop up the "try a mod" message box on first refresh of the Internet tab when the counter has reached 10.

TryMoreMods messes with the counter in the following way:
  • If the Standard Servers Only check box is enabled and the counter is larger than 10, it is reset to 0. That makes the message box show up again after 10 UT2004 restarts. (I'd consider that a reasonably long period of time.)
  • If the Standard Servers Only check box is disabled and the counter is less than 10, it is set to 11. In other words, if you try non-standard servers once in a while, you won't see the message box any time soon.
Again, the message box is displayed by the server browser. Try More Mods itself doesn't show anything to the player. But then again, I already expected "infidels" like you. ;)
Code:
[TryMoreMods.TryMoreModsActor]
bImTryingAlready=True
Put that into your User.ini (or update it, if you've been to a server with Try More Mods before) and the server actor will stop messing with your Try-A-Mod counter. The dates in the ZIP file aren't fake, btw. This little toy has been around for over two years already and even runs on some servers for almost as long, I just never bothered to promote it publicly yet. I wanted to make absolutely sure it works as intended.
 

Arnox

UT99/2004 Mod Crazy
Mar 26, 2009
1,601
5
38
Beyond
Arnox, you may have misunderstood. Epic themselves built in a message to remind people to try turning off the "Standard Servers Only" checkbox in the server browser. They count the number of times the Internet Server Browser was initialized (not opened or refreshed, that usually happens once every UT2004 session because the server browser stays open in the background) and pop up the "try a mod" message box on first refresh of the Internet tab when the counter has reached 10.

TryMoreMods messes with the counter in the following way:
  • If the Standard Servers Only check box is enabled and the counter is larger than 10, it is reset to 0. That makes the message box show up again after 10 UT2004 restarts. (I'd consider that a reasonably long period of time.)
  • If the Standard Servers Only check box is disabled and the counter is less than 10, it is set to 11. In other words, if you try non-standard servers once in a while, you won't see the message box any time soon.
Again, the message box is displayed by the server browser. Try More Mods itself doesn't show anything to the player. But then again, I already expected "infidels" like you. ;)
Code:
[TryMoreMods.TryMoreModsActor]
bImTryingAlready=True
Put that into your User.ini (or update it, if you've been to a server with Try More Mods before) and the server actor will stop messing with your Try-A-Mod counter. The dates in the ZIP file aren't fake, btw. This little toy has been around for over two years already and even runs on some servers for almost as long, I just never bothered to promote it publicly yet. I wanted to make absolutely sure it works as intended.

*shrug* I don't really have a problem with it but some people might. That's all I'm saying. They might think their UT2004 installation is broken somehow. I don't really play UT online much if at all. A lotta servers require you download these massive custom maps all the time.
 
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