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Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 4:22 am
by t3hplayer
Edit: I've now made a Github project for the Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy Update. https://github.com/t3hplayer/unofficial_shotgun_frenzy
What is it?
This is an *unofficial* update / patch for Shotgun Frenzy v1.4. Over time, users have found various exploits, imbalances, and other things to exploit in Shotgun Frenzy v1.4. This *unofficial* update seeks to address these various issues.
What's Shotgun Frenzy?
Shotgun Frenzy is a cooperative Doom 2 mod that pits players against a bunch of huge waves of enemies. For more information, check the v1.4 release thread on the Zandronum forums.
Who are you?
I'm just a guy who really likes Shotgun Frenzy. I'm not one of the contributors to the original project (which is why I'm calling this an *unofficial* update), and I didn't even know about it until I happened upon a server running v1.4 one day. I started running it on my own server, and I finally got fed up with users exploiting various money cheats and generally being kinda lame about how they played it.
What's changed / fixed as of the current version?
Note: I plan to eventually have a proper changelog of what's changed in every version. For now, though, I'm just going to attempt to list everything I've altered.

Update 6:
  • Rocket turrets no longer kill players
  • Added new options in the "Controls" menu to add quick-binds for some commonly used items
  • Player controllable turrets in SF maps no longer allow more than one player to try to use them at a time, which previously resulted in the turret ceasing to function
Older updates:
  • Fixed elevators in SF maps so it's impossible for users to block them
  • Fixed recycle / purchase prices so that actual values match the values listed
  • Fixed recycle menu so there's (hopefully) no way to earn money by selling something you don't own
  • Altered explosive shot to work around a Zandronum bug
  • Beefed up super weapons
  • Added upgrades for super weapons
  • Added server console setting to fix money-over-time rate (see below)
  • Added various other server console settings which can alter gameplay (see below)
  • Added Arachnotron and Spider Mastermind enemy types to spawning waves
  • Nerfed dual-shot razor
What are these new server console settings I've heard so much about?
There are a few:

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sf_startcash
Sets each player's starting cash. For example, if I wanted my server to have players start with 2000 instead of 2500 cash, I'd simply issue "set sf_startcash 2000" in my server console.

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sf_teamcash
Similar to sf_startcash, except this sets the team's starting cash. Only relevant for SF maps.

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sf_gamelength
Sets the length of the game up to the two-minute warning for the Guardian Wave. So, if you set this to 33 minutes, the Guardian Wave will happen at the 35 minute mark.

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sf_creditcorrection
This one is a little tricky. Internally, the game alters the amount of starting cash a player gets based on how much time has elapsed. That way, players get more cash when they join later in the game. The idea is that this helps late-joining players stay competitive, since they haven't had as long to earn cash. In reality, though, some players find that too much cash is earned over time, and they like to reduce this payout. That's what this variable is for. Set it to a negative value if you want to cash to increase more slowly over time, and use a positive value for the opposite effect. In my experience, -8 is a pretty good setting.

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sf_percentfast
This one is fun. This sets the percentage of monsters which spawn with super fast running speed (from 0 to 100). Only triggers when there are at least 3 players.
How can I run this?
Load the sf14unofficialpatch pk3 file *after* the normal Shotgun Frenzy stuff. Example command line:

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./zandronum-server -iwad doom2.wad -file skulltag_actors_1-1-1.pk3 -file skulltag_data_126.pk3  -file sfrenzy14.pk3 -file sfrenzy14_core.pk3 -file sf14unofficialpatch5.pk3
Are there any servers running this?
It seems most of the Shotgun Frenzy servers are running this update, actually.
Where can I get it?
Right now it's just in the WADs section at Best. Ever.
Download

I'll probably eventually make a Dropbox or something, so we don't all have to just mooch off of Best. Ever.

Feedback appreciated.

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:54 pm
by t3hplayer
Just a quick note that update 6 is out. I've updated the original post to reflect this.

Also, gregm, another member of the SF community, has started doing some updates of his own. In the future, I'll definitely be looking at integrating at least some of those into the unofficial patch. One exciting development is that gregm has found a resolution for the long-standing issue with the CF05 map not correctly terminating. I plan on adding his updated version of cf05.wad into the next release of the unofficial SF patch. Thanks for that, gregm!

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 5:10 pm
by smoke_fumus
Thereis absolutely no point in any starting packs aside from shotgunner+SSG explosive shells - and while in team - you can transition from it right to traveler bfg. I would recommend swapping assault pack machinegun explosive shells update cost from 3 to 1 to make it compete in power with ES_SSG

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:53 am
by t3hplayer
smoke_fumus wrote: Thereis absolutely no point in any starting packs aside from shotgunner+SSG explosive shells - and while in team - you can transition from it right to traveler bfg. I would recommend swapping assault pack machinegun explosive shells update cost from 3 to 1 to make it compete in power with ES_SSG
You're absolutely right about the SSG + explosive shells being, by far, the best starter. To be honest, I haven't played with weapon balance too much (except for fixing things like the dual shot razor which were just obviously OP), because weapon balance is hard and I'm not very good at it.

I'll look into your suggestion, though. I think it makes a lot of sense, though unfortunately that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the weapon balance issues.

Now that Zandronum 2 is out, which includes a few ACS features I'd been wanting to use, I've got a number of ideas I want to investigate. Unfortunately time is short right now, so it may be a while before anything comes of it.

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 12:04 pm
by -Jes-
To be brutally honest, kill-based upgrade points need to go away entirely!
They become impossible to grind for anyone still stuck with stock weapons when the first upgraded tier 2/super/baron hits the field, especially late game where it's all cyber demons.

I cannot count the amount of games where I've been lightyears ahead of other players late game purely because I got more kills early game.


As well, there needs to be something - Anything - to compensate for buying ammo/health spawners early game.

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 2:29 pm
by nax
hey t3hplayer, been awhile, glad to see you're still working on this.

as always if you'd like input on your balance I'd be happy to guinea pig for you.

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:34 pm
by bruiserdaemon
Broken link?

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:57 am
by t3hplayer
-Jes- wrote: To be brutally honest, kill-based upgrade points need to go away entirely!
This was actually exactly one of the things I was thinking of when I said I want to try some new things with Zandronum 2. It should (hopefully) be possible to calculate upgrades based on damage done now, instead of kills. Zandronum has a game mode where the scoreboard shows a score based on damage done instead of kills. The problem before was that there was no way for a mod to fetch the scoreboard values, so we couldn't calculate upgrades from that number. Now, though, there's (I believe -- it was a requested feature which was fulfilled, IIRC) a way to do it, as of Zandronum 2.
nax wrote: hey t3hplayer, been awhile, glad to see you're still working on this.

as always if you'd like input on your balance I'd be happy to guinea pig for you.
nax, good to see you around. I'm debating switching my server over to something more of a showcase for experimental changes to the mod. The unofficial patch has proven fairly popular, so there are now several servers running the mod, which means my server can be free to be a playground.

I've not gotten much done on the mod for now though. There's a fix for the broken CF map (not made by me -- gregm fixed it, IIRC), which I've been meaning to stick into the patch. I've also still got a plan to allow server admins to customize waves of monsters using server settings, but that's further ahead.

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 8:35 pm
by morganm
Any news on more development for this awesome mod?!

Also where can I find more servers? There's only one ever listed in Doomseeker and my ping is terrible on it.

RE: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 3:04 am
by t3hplayer
Sorry, I've been pretty busy with some other things for a while. My server is still running, but it crashes periodically and I forgot to reboot it for months. It should be back up now. That server is located in Atlanta, GA, USA, so if you're near there the ping should be good.

I do still plan on looking at updating the mod and including some fixes (both mine and ones from other people), but it'll be a while before it happens.

Re: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 2:24 pm
by trippy
Hi, is shotgun frenzy still being updated and how can we tackle the votekick abuse problems that we are currently experiencing?

Re: Unofficial Shotgun Frenzy v1.4 Update (Current Release: 6)

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 5:35 am
by t3hplayer
trippy wrote:Hi, is shotgun frenzy still being updated and how can we tackle the votekick abuse problems that we are currently experiencing?
I've been pretty busy for the past couple years, so there's not been any updates. Unfortunately, a lot of these problems (except for the wasting of team resources) aren't specific to Shotgun Frenzy.

I can disable votekick on my server, but then that'd also mean that nobody can kick the trolls. These dummy players that connect, do they move around or play the game at all, or do they just sit there?