mapvote update?

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takwu

takwu

cXp coder Tak®
Feb 5, 2004
614
0
0
www.mif.vu.lt
Hi,
The current mapvote for XMP is made by EQ2 right? Is there any chance it can get an update?

I just posted (again) the concerns with map rotation on Chaptor1 on their forum, and mentioned about the mapvote mutator.

Basically the problem is, when we get to a number of "bad" maps on the rotation, we're stuck with them for the whole night, unless people keep voting. And you know how little interest people have in voting...

Add to the fact that you can only vote for maps that are on rotation, and up to 10 maps that the admin puts in the config file, the admin basically ends up putting every map on rotation (therefore votable) so we're stuck with looping through every map.

A very simple suggestion: can the mapvote automatically list ALL maps that are in the map folder? Just like in the game options? This way we can keep the rotation clean and at the same time have every stupid f'd up map available for voting.

Wouldn't that be sweet?
 
takwu

takwu

cXp coder Tak®
Feb 5, 2004
614
0
0
www.mif.vu.lt
It's all the maps on rotation that are listed in mapvote.

If you don't like a map then yeah mapvote is great. But if you don't like 40 out of 50 maps on rotation, doing mapvote 80% of the time is tiresome and ultimately not used.
 
EQ²

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
0
16
41
Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
My logic with including only "in-rotation" maps in the votable list was based on the idea that typically you may have a lot of maps on the server, but those that you want people to be able to play are the ones in rotation. You can also add a few "special" maps (duel, trainingday, RGB) which you don't really want to rotate but are cool for people to be able to switch to when suitable.

If you log in as admin, then it's possible with mapvote to choose any map that's on the server, not just rotated maps. This is again by design.

I made mapvote with the view that if a map was being voted for then it was a higher preference than its location in the map rotation, and that normal rotation would resume after the voted map. This avoids the situation where big chunks of the rotation get skipped because of a vote, and makes sure the rotation is interesting. If however, players vote to skip a map nobody likes, then of course it will keep going back to that map, since the server never "loses it's place" in the map rotation, the voted map is kinda like a detour.

The option would be to take the alternative behaviour, where rotation continues from the map that got voted in, rather than from the previous position, thus meaning that if you vote a map then it advances the map rotation pointer to that map.

I don't think putting all the maps on the server as votable would be a particularly great idea, after all, if you want them all votable then why not put them all in rotation. Picking maps from the rotation makes the most sense. What I might be inclined to do is increase the admin-defined maps list size to a larger number if that's what people want. This would give admins that want to run unusual maps but not have them in rotation more flexibility.

Despite this, I would say the following. If a map comes around that you want to skip, simply vote for a new map after the map you want to skip has already started. Sure, you have to wait a minute while the vote-spam-killer times out, but then you're rid of it till it comes around again.

Secondly, if you have an issue with a server's map rotation, just tell the admin. Most admins aim to get people playing on their server, and if you're dissatisfied, then say so so that they can rectify the issue, after all it's in their best interests and the interests of the diminuitive XMP community that they do so. Hopefully you'll get some joy out of the chaptorone guys via their forum.

Mapvote is hardly a complex bit of code, and I can make the mods that you're suggesting (or at least the compromises I've suggested), and I certainly wouldn't be abashed if someone else wanted to make the changes instead, I always heavily comment my code so that it's clear what does what and why. If I added the features though I would definately do it as a server-side option rather than the default, since as I mentioned, the default behaviour has its reasoning as well, it's not just an arbitrary choice.

Let me know your feedback, if this meets with widespread agreement, then I'll dig out the source and beat it into submission.

WRT the other comments in this thread: again - if you don't like a servers map rotation then tell the admin. And played counters would be a bit of a bitch, since what constitutes "played"? Voted for would be easier, but played counts would have to take into account players entering and leaving the server. Otherwise every time a map rotated it would be logged as "played"
 
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takwu

takwu

cXp coder Tak®
Feb 5, 2004
614
0
0
www.mif.vu.lt
Thanks for the explanation :)

But I don't agree that "if you want them all votable then why not put them all in rotation". A lot of maps are not particularly popular with the players *cough*Freefall*cough* so it wouldn't make sense to rotate them regularly. However once in a while players might like to play a map like that by mapvoting.

On the other hand, if a map is already on rotation, there's less need to vote for it, because you'll get to it eventually if you stay long enough.

The rotation, in my opinion, is what the admin feels should be played on the server over and over (i.e. the "best" maps), so it should be relatively short. Mapvote, again in my opinion, is most useful for those maps *not* on rotation, which is a very long list. If the admin feels a map should never be played on a server, i.e. not even votable, it doesn't need to be in the folder.

The reason why (I think) Chaptor1 has all those maps on rotation is because that's the only way (presently) to make them votable. Their rotation is so long that it means very little to "rotate" it anymore :(
 
EQ²

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
0
16
41
Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
So could this be addressed by a much higher number of admin-defined votable maps then? At the moment it's an indexed array (i forget why) but there's no reason it couldn't be a dynamic array like the actual rotation is, at least none I can think of. That would allow a more-or-less unlimited admin-defined list. That satisfies all eventualities unless I'm mistaken.
 
takwu

takwu

cXp coder Tak®
Feb 5, 2004
614
0
0
www.mif.vu.lt
Yes that would work too :)

All we have to do is ask the admin to put the requested maps on the mapvote list instead of the rotation.
 
G

GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
4,042
1
0
Lithuania
By the way, why isn't MapVote like MapVote in UT2004? It's quite disturbing when they ask you if you want to vote for one map. I don't want to vote for it, but I want to vote for another one, although others don't want to vote for it too so we never decide! In UT2004 it's all simple, everyone votes without any confirmations, and when the timer expires (30 seconds + time for ending sequence usually), the map that receives the most votes win.
 
EQ²

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
0
16
41
Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
The main reasons were 1) I wanted to stick with the existing XMP voting that is familiar to players, this means yes or no questions: "want to play this map? - yes"; 2) I hadn't seen this UT04 voting of which you speak, I based this on the Battlefield voting system which I was familiar with which works in the same manner; 3) Mapvote wasn't supposed to create some kind of free-for-all where the rotation gets ignored, it was designed to let players have a bit of flexibility when the admin wasn't around.

GreatEmerald said:
It's quite disturbing when they ask you if you want to vote for one map. I don't want to vote for it, but I want to vote for another one, although others don't want to vote for it too so we never decide!
Click to expand...

This is by design... if the players in a server can't agree on a map then the next map in rotation gets played. If you want to queue a map then just vote first, it's easy to tell what's next in rotation so check it, if you don't like it, vote for another. You don't have to wait to the end screen to vote! I only put the end screen notice in to make it more obvious to people who wouldn't otherwise pay much attention to map vote.

If someone suggests a crappy map you don't want to play, just vote no. If you're correct and 'everyone else in the server' agrees with you, then you should have no problem getting a vote passed at the start of the next map. If you're wrong then the majority isn't on your side and your vote wouldn't have succeeded anyway. Plus, voting at the start of the map means that the map you want to skip won't keep coming back to bite you, as mentioned above.

As I've said, I'm happy for anyone that wants to to make changes to MapVote to do so, but bear in mind I put a lot of time and effort into getting it to work the way it does and you'll need to thouroughly test any mods you make.
 
G

GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
4,042
1
0
Lithuania
Obviously it wouldn't just go free for all. If no one votes, the rotation is used. And options such as Random Vote or Next Rotation Map could be possible too. That would make the system more flexible.
if the players in a server can't agree on a map then the next map in rotation gets played.
Click to expand...
And usually the next map on rotation is the one nobody wants at all...
 
SmotPoker

SmotPoker

hi.
Apr 5, 2006
181
0
16
Lost in the middle of one of Jackal's radar-less m
Hi! My name is Smot :) I came to throw my idea into the mix.

What about adding a feature to randomize the starting position within the rotation (or even the entire rotation!) after a new map is voted for. That's how my iPod works, why can't my XMP work the same way?

i.e. when a map is voted for, create a new, randomized, list with the voted for map in position 1 (or position 0 for those of us in Europe who like starting their counts on the number 0 for things like hotel floors...)

Either that, or hack the server and forcefully remove the map you don't like from the list!




Oh how I miss you all... I dream of you, late at night, when no one's watching. I even cut XMP into my arms/wrists when I'm feeling down and lonely. My friends think it's a cult I've joined. I simply nod and smile when they say this. I tattooed a big [Ч] on my back so everyone will know my allegiance.

I have a statue of a Gunner in my closet. I call him Billy. We play with each other some days at lunch under the jungle gym at school, and I pretend that I'm a tech and I rip one in his face. I call it a gas grenade. He then pulls out his flamethrower and teaches me a lesson. We've had a lot of fun together, Billy and I.

I wonder... Will there ever be a game that can match XMP's greatness? Hell, will there even be one that can come close?
 
G

garbage

a.k.a. Del!Rium
Oct 23, 2005
372
0
0
34
Holland>all
www.tbc-xmp.co.uk
GreatEmerald said:
U3XMP? Or UTXMP3? Although that's far off topic :D
Click to expand...

The odds for that are about as great as the chance I will someday be President of the US AND the man with the biggest penus in the world at the same time.
That's probably as likely as Chuck Norris getting smitten by lightning, not surviving it and being removed from all the peoples' memories.
 
G

GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
4,042
1
0
Lithuania
Ask [BBF]Typhoon.
Anyway, forgot to mention that UT2004 vote system also has rotation protection - maps that have been played recently are greyed out and not available for voting. That keeps rotation, or at least shuffling, alive. The amount of greyed out maps can be changed by server admins, even up to 2 active maps!
 
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