Manta Runs, Viper Runs, & Other Musings

[badasp]

Here are some screenshots of in-game action from Ghosted's server. The changes he made to the gameplay make it play a lot like 2K4, especially his manta-run mod:

Pic of me riding on wing of Manta in VCTF-Suspense (there is no 3rd person view so this is best pic possible):



End game screenshots in VCTF-DesertCombatv2:





In addition to manta runs, it is also possible to do viper runs. The Viper is the Necris (i.e., alien) equivalent of the manta. It has similar handling characteristics and certainly also allows for a quick flag run.

Ghosted riding on my Viper in VCTF-SuspenseNecris:





Me riding on Ghosted's Viper in VCTF-SuspenseNecris:





The ability do manta and viper runs has added a whole new dimension to UT3 VCTF and has certainly made it a lot more fun. I suggest all of you who have the game to give it another try, since with these changes it really is a lot of fun.

While playing recently I have discovered a couple other cool things. One, in particular, is an LG mod:



Granted, the animation for the actual gun is a bit disappointing. I hide my weapons anyways, so this isn't an issue for me. What's important is that it has a similar feel to the LG, esecially with the much shorter delay than the sniper rifle when switiching to other weapons. Cool mod and great weapon.

I have also found a server where people are actually playing TAM/FREON. I have had the BTA (Battle Team Arena) mod for a while and never could find anyone playing it online. These guys seem to be east coast so they get on a bit earlier than I do (being west coast). Nonetheless, the gametype is easily among the best in the game and I certainly had a lot of fun:



Getting a game night together for VCTF and TAM/FREON would be a blast for sure. Anyone interested?

[badasp]

Also something else worth mentioning is disabling Bloom and Depth of Field. Bloom and Depth of Field make the game appear all hazy and gloomy. When off, the game appears as razor sharp as UT2004. The first screenshot in my post above has Bloom and Depth of Field on. As one can see, especially from the grass in the background, everything is much darker. With this option off, as was the case for all the screenshots following the first one, the visuals are much brighter and sharper. People and objects are much easier to see from the background and the visuals still look damn good, forgoing the need to sacrifice all image quality with something like picmip. All you have to do to turn it off is go into the advanced video settings in game and make sure the box next to "Enable Bloom and Depth of Field" has no dot in it. This option is configurable in-game after patch 2.0, so make sure you have at least that or preferably patch 2.1, as it just came out a couple days ago. Overall, disabling this option makes the game look a lot cleaner as well as easier to play. Highly recommended.

[Mr Bean]

I've played on Ghosted server a few times. He is a professional programmer and has done quite a bit of modifying the code so it plays more like UT2004. He's done an awesome job...

- Manta runs
- Dodge Jump
- Quicker movement

... to name a few. He also has UTComp and Hit-sound installed. Definitely worth checking out. His success is without a doubt applaudable. Like badasp said, go to video settings and turn off blooming & depth of field to achieve that UT2k4 crispness. Epic should have hired Ghosted from the get go and would have save themselves a face plant. Ghosted's server info is under my sig.

[Ghosted]

Nice badasp. I'm going to try a few things to get TAM/Freon playing nice on my server. Also, Invasion(/RPG) might be a nice distraction (the invasion mod is pretty well done imo). I'm probably going to put those up as well.

I agree with you on the bloom/clarity thing.

More info about the server: (warning, not as interesting as these pics)
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1759

Also, thanks Bean! To be fair, I've been using existing mods to do a lot of the changes, but this project has gotten me into uscript which is pretty fun and powerful. Who knows, I've been working on an XNA game (XBOX/PC) off and on, maybe I'll end up in the game industry

[WarDad71]

Graphics are freaking awesome and with things like dodging etc. might have to find $5 and go pick up a copy

Edit: you said dodging - I didn't see double jumping - is that implemented also or still being worked on.

[Mr Bean]

Double jumping and Dodging were already possible, it's the combination of the two that weren't... dodge jumping.

[Linkon]

He also has UTComp and Hit-sound installed.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Ghosted and Bean are my new fav people on this forum! Ghosted for adding UTcomp and Bean for telling peopel about it

Ill deff have to check it out and see how you did on this ghosted

Cheers

[v0idNull]

Same here I'll be jumping on the fun this weekend.