Heretic II Multiplayer Event on 27th April 2024

Hi!

On 27th April 2024 starting 19.00 German time we will be holding a Multiplayer-Event for Heretic II, in cooperation with H2 Vault and Paul Gagnon (who handles the H2 Multiplayer Servers of H2 Vault).

The Server we will be using is:

MyDedServer - 71.84.56.38:28910

Should this server at some point during the event already be "full" there will be a second server prepared at:

Bladerunner's Server - 66.108.89.119:24910

Paul told me that the PC H2 Modding Community was very active the last years and the servers require some extra material to be able to play at them.

I prepared installers for these extra materials and uploaded them to os4depot.

I am not sure if the small archive (400 MB) will be enough to play without H2 saying "I need to download further material now" at some point. Paul recommended the big archive (1.7 GB). Which contains all maps, models, skins etc. the H2 Modding community produced in 20 years. Awesome stuff.

h2_extramaps.lha -> smaller Version, already on os4depot
h2_Big_Data.lha -> huge Version, will be available today

If you have the big file you do not need the small file anymore.

The two archives also optionally offer to install a new config.cfg which already sets the H2 Servers into the addressbook.

It also sets the cl_maxspeed to 60 and cl_yawspeed to 300 which is the typical setting on H2 PC Multiplayer Gaming appearently (probably more fair if all have the same values here, can also be done by game console if not taking the config.cfg:

set cl_maxfps 60
set cl_yawspeed 300

).

I hope a lot of Amiga users will join on 27th April!!!

Gruß,
Steffen

Note the big archive will now end up on Aminet not os4depot, in game/actio. Same will be for the Q2 Mods for the soon-to-be-released new Q2 port.

Thanks, TheMagicSN! Does look like an interesting event!

Impressive to say how much work has been done around Heretic II over the years.

Paul Gagnon created too more servers for the case that the existing ones would not be enough for all who want to join.

set adr4 "66.108.89.119:24910" //Bladerunner's (DM) Plain Vanilla server
set adr5 "66.108.89.119:28940" //Bladerunner's (DM) Plain Vanilla server2

Those aren't in the address books entry of the config.cfg in the H2_Big_Data.lha though, so if you want to use those you need to enter them manually into the address book in the game.

game/shoot/H2_Big_Data.lha is
now downloadable on Aminet.

Here a small reminder - this Saturday on 27th 19.00 (German time) there will be the Heretic II Multiplayer Event (Servers see the thread above). It needs game/shoot/H2_Big_Data.lha from aminet.net as mentioned before (the huge file got an installer).

If someone has problems with entering multiplayer config with the "big pack" installed, it seems the hundreds of skins in that pack cause trouble for H2 AmigaOS (probably due to H2 loading everything in till out of memory ^^).

To be able to set up a custom model anyways you can just rename players, models and skins and then do a separate players, models and skins directory with only the one from the release. Then move over the skins/models/players from the big pack you want to use, start H2 and set your model/name. After that you can rename players/models/skins again and revert to the big pack.

In game the huge amount of models will not cause a problem, only in setting the player config.

Alternatively without the confusing renaming and stuff, you could just do a

set name "MyName"
set skin "male/Corvus"

(In H2 Console)

(or whatever model you want to use). If not entering the Multiplayer Config screen it won't crash.

Update - appearently on pc the big archive also
makes problems with the player config menu ;) they
appearently use an external program to preview
skins on pc.
I am going to debug the crash ;) to see it it
really is oom or maybe just a broken model file

The problem with the Player Setup has been fixed. However, I'm not sure if it will come to end users in time for the event.

There were several bugs:

#1 Bug in the original H2 Source Code (skins were limited to 128 - now limited to 1280, and if there ever are that many, it won't crash, it will simply make 1280 selectable. Additionally, there's a new console variable - skipskins - if you enter about 500 there, it will skip the first 500 skins. You don't need this now, it's just in case the 1280 limit is exceeded in the future).

#2 Bug The skin memory management in the Player Setup Dialog (ingame was not affected, only the dialog) was, let's say, "silly for AmigaOS". Fixed.

#3 Bug The people at H2 Vault had 6 broken models in their large archive. Since their Player Setup on Windows also crashed, they never noticed. The broken models need to be deleted from base/Models and base/Players otherwise the Player Setup (but not the actual game !!!) can crash. base/Skins can remain unchanged.

The affected models are:

female:

velvet, darkelfw, utsoldier, unseenhand

male:

utsoldier, gandhig

I will provide a separate file (only the affected directories, so you don't have to download the whole giant file again). To make everything work, you need both the new quake2.so for Heretic II and the fixed data files.

Different solution than another huge file - a scriptfile which delets the broken models (I also uploaded this to Aminet). I will also fix the huge file, but you do not need to redownload this, just running the scriptfile once is enough (and the new quake2.so is needed of course which I sent yesterday to Alinea for release).

This is the script:

delete base/players/male/gandhig.m8
delete base/players/male/gandhigdmg.m8
delete base/players/male/gandhig_i.m8
delete base/players/male/utsoldier.m8
delete base/players/male/utsoldierdmg.m8
delete base/players/male/utsoldier_i.m8
delete base/players/female/velvet.m8
delete base/players/female/velvetdmg.m8
delete base/players/female/velvetp1.m8
delete base/players/female/velvetp1dmg.m8
delete base/players/female/velvetp2.m8
delete base/players/female/velvetp2dmg.m8
delete base/players/female/velvet_i.m8
delete base/players/female/unseenhand.m8
delete base/players/female/unseenhanddmg.m8
delete base/players/female/unseenhand_i.m8
delete base/players/female/unseenfem.m8
delete base/players/female/unseenfemdmg.m8
delete base/players/female/unseenfem_i.m8
delete base/players/female/darkelfw.jpg
delete base/players/female/darkelfw.m8
delete base/players/female/darkelfwdmg.m8
delete base/players/female/darkelfw_i.m8
delete base/skins/female/darkelfw.jpg
delete base/skins/female/darkelfw.m8
delete base/skins/female/darkelfwdmg.m8
delete base/skins/female/darkelfw_i.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvet.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvetdmg.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvetp1.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvetp1dmg.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvetp2.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvetp2dmg.m8
delete base/skins/female/velvet_i.m8
delete base/skins/female/unseenfem.m8
delete base/skins/female/unseenfemdmg.m8
delete base/skins/female/unseenfem_i.m8
delete base/skins/female/unseenhand.m8
delete base/skins/female/unseenhanddmg.m8
delete base/skins/female/unseenhand_i.m8
delete base/skins/male/utsoldier.m8
delete base/skins/male/utsoldierdmg.m8
delete base/skins/male/utsoldier_i.m8
delete base/skins/male/gandhig.m8
delete base/skins/male/gandhigdmg.m8
delete base/skins/male/gandhig_i.m8

By the way, it seems like I overlooked a few broken models/skins (had a bit of a faulty installation, now properly installed since yesterday).

These also need to be deleted:

(I just uploaded an H2_Big_Data_Fix.lha with an update of the script to Aminet. Additionally, I am working on an update of the large archive, designed so that it can be installed over an existing installation without having to completely reinstall H2. I'm also integrating fixes for the balr Maps, which Paul Gagnon from H2 Vault sent me yesterday - seems they forgot some textures in a few newer maps), this will be Update 1.2.0, it's worth checking the readme before downloading to see if it's already the new version. And I hope Alinea makes the binary update available next week.

delete base/players/male/oberon.m8
delete base/players/male/oberondmg.m8
delete base/players/male/oberon_i.m8
delete base/players/male/thug.m8
delete base/players/male/thug1.m8
delete base/players/male/thugdark.m8
delete base/players/male/thugdarkdmg.m8
delete base/players/male/thugoom.m8
delete base/players/male/thugoomdmg.m8
delete base/players/male/tinker2.m8
delete base/players/male/tinker2dmg.m8
delete base/players/male/tinker2_i.m8
delete base/players/male/titanb.m8
delete base/players/male/titanj.m8
delete base/players/male/titank.m8
delete base/players/male/titanl.m8
delete base/players/male/titant.m8
delete base/skins/oberon.m8
delete base/skins/oberondmg.m8
delete base/skins/oberon_i.m8
delete base/skins/OGLE.m8
delete base/skins/ogleDmg.m8
delete base/skins/OGLE_I.m8
delete base/skins/ti.m8
delete base/skins/ti2.m8
delete base/skins/ti2dmg.m8
delete base/skins/ti3.m8
delete base/skins/ti3dmg.m8
delete base/skins/tidmg.m8
delete base/skins/tinker2.m8
delete base/skins/tinker2dmg.m8
delete base/skins/tinker2_i.m8
delete base/skins/titanb.m8
delete base/skins/titanium.m8
delete base/skins/titaniumdmg.m8
delete base/skins/titanj.m8
delete base/skins/titank.m8
delete base/skins/titanl.m8
delete base/skins/titant.m8
delete "base/skins/Tontoreblack (1).m8"
delete "base/skins/TontoreblackDmg (2).m8"
delete base/skins/tonyatest.m8
delete "base/skins/nude chicken.m8"

here is a short recording from the Heretic II Multiplayer Event on April 27th, 2024

Nice video. Unfortunately the timing didn't work out for me yesterday. Either I was offline when other people were playing or vice versa. I did spend a few hours on solo play though so that was good.

@TheMagicSN One quick question - how will those of use that bought from other places like RetroPassion be able to pick up updates? Will they be having a similar mechanism, or can Alinea add the downloads to my account (I have one?)

I appreciate you may not have the answers to those questions! Just wondering in advance :D

@MartinW

vielen Dank

@McFly
Great video. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. But we should arrange it again, maybe next weekend or an other day.

@MartinW

They will get the updated so file
From me or Alinea. As these were not too many
sales outside alinea sales i suspect they should be able to send the
update to their customers.

Alternatively for people who do not want to
wait for it send me evidence of the sale
(Copy of your order) and i can send you the
archive (it is not a big file). Offer not
limited to customers of Retro Passion.

My Email is tirionareonwe@gmail.com

Best regards,
Steffen

Here is a video that I recorded a little later on my Qemu/Pegasos2 system.

The average ping rate for all players was about 200. Here the server was already occupied with 3-5 players in multiplayer.

The interest in the multiplayer mode is apparently not so great, or the time was just wrongly chosen, but it was still really fun.

Thank you TheMagicSN for making sure that there were some servers to join

Couldn't make it. Hopefully there will be another event someday.

@all

Maybe we can repeat such a multiplayer event if we can agree on the best time for most. ?