tweaking movement in 1.3 - personal view

[aougli]

I liked the movement of 1.2; I prefer it to the default 1.3 movement.  Hovering is not such a big issue for me, but being nimble is.  It is possible to edit one of your files to make the movement in 1.3 similar to the movement in 1.2.  This post is from a multiplayer team strategy perspective; I don't know if it is positive or negative for other game types.  This is a quick and easy thing to do, and requires almost no skill (I can do it!).  There are two values to change.

In this folder: C:\Program Files\Battlezone II 1_3 public\addon\config (or whatever you have called your 1.3 install)
look for a file called: GamePrefs.ini

Open the file, it is a simple text file and will most likely open in Notepad.  Anything with "//" before it is a comment and is ignored.  Use: Edit -> Find to find "MaxMWSmoothPercentage". The first hit with the search function will get you to a a value that says: MaxMWSmoothPercentage = 0.4 . I changed this to read MaxMWSmoothPercentage = 0.25.  This is the old 1.2 value (according to the comments in the file).

The second thing to change is the timeskew value.  This can be located in the same way, by using Edit, Find, etc.  The default value is set to false.  I changed this to true.

So, in summary, the relevant values for me are:
MaxMWSmoothPercentage = 0.25
UseNewTimeskew = true

Save the file after making the changes.

The relevant sections of my GamePrefs.ini file now looks like:

// 100% of its forward velocity per frame. BZ2 1.0-1.2 used 0.25,
// though that was based on an arbitrary max velocity of 45, not the
// craft's physics parameters. Setting this number higher will be
// slightly more jumpy, while lower numbers will tend to induce warp if
// remote players maneuver really quickly.
MaxMWSmoothPercentage = 0.25
// default was 0.4

// Flag to use the newest timeskew code. If false, the code from 1.2
// will be used instead. This option may go away at some point.
UseNewTimeskew = true
// default was false

I added two comments to remind myself what the defaults were.  The defaults were there for a reason; it may be a mistake to change them.  I do not what the effects of setting the variables to vastly unreasonable values (negative figures ?).  Discuss with other people in the games you play as to whether things have improved or not, and post comments in this forum.


Please bear in mind that if you mess around with config files, you do so at your own risk.  There is no official support for the 1.3 beta patch; I guess even less so if you edit files.  However, this is a beta patch, and it is up to us to find out what is best.  Worst case scenario is you spend five minutes reinstalling everything.

I have found the above changes improve movement; I can jump off cliffs in a scout, fire off a laser or two while upside down, etc., a lot more manoueverable.  Also I have found that I hit eneny scouts with a laser, they briefly go yellow, then jump back to green, doesn't always happen, but it sometimes does.

Remember this is a beta patch; it is not complete, not presents itself as perfect.

[Commando]

Aougli timeskew = false is the default 1.2 value.  THe true value is the new experimental 1.3 value.

[BZ FeebleEffort]

Very good Points Ag, I'll also say that tweaking my graphics "down" from the changes directed by the variable graphics helped alot regarding the "look" of the game, I havea P4 3.0 with a Geforece 4 5900 Ultra(256)..I figure this things better handle anything BZ can give me, so I changed those values to rarely if ever change and I saw immediate improvement, also with the mip map setting, I'm now donw to "2" and may go to -0-.

It still ain't perfect, but it sure looks beter.

[SilverB1rd]

WARNING

changing MaxMWSmoothPercentage to 0.25 will not make ships move like they did 1.2 it will only alow them to to have graphical lag like they did in 1.2. Just an FYI.

[aougli]

Yes, maybe you are right, hence the point about ships jumping from green to yellow to green.  We're still experimenting.  If we try and get to the good stuff in 1.2 (nimble movement) we may loose the good stuff in 1.3 (less warp, amongst other things).  It's one of the many balancing issues we need to sort out.  As one of the main criticisms of 1.3 is its movement, the above changes have the effect of making 1.3 more 1.2-like, and demonstrate both 1.3's capabilities and 1.2's faults.

Above all, people have the choice, and hopefully we increase our knowledge and end up with an improved solution.

[SilverB1rd]

I was only trying to point out that MaxMWSmoothPercentage does not make ships move faster. It is only to make it so others see you ship is where it really is ant not somewhere else.


Editing the odf for the scout is all that is required and is already being worked on.

[aougli]

Sure, np.  I just prefer the perception of the movement with the above changes.  I lack the understanding to edit odf files; I'm glad someone who knows what they are doing is giving it some attention.