Left 4 Dead

[Triad Orion]

Pretty much this sums it up:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/green-blackboards-and-other-anomalies/

[Garian]

hey guys, i went ahead and rented out a server... it's running some slightly modded settings, but it's nothing extreme and you probably wouldn't really even notice it unless you compared playing experiences. the IP address and port (why would you need that?) is 8.12.21.14:27015 but if you want to hit it from the lobby, just use "sv_search_key ocremix" in the developer console before hitting 'start game'. (to bring up the dev console hit the tilde ~, if that doesn't work go to your keyboard options and enable it.)

Modded settings:

sm_cvar tank_burn_duration_vs 45 //default 30

sm_cvar z_pounce_damage_range_max 2000  //default 1000
sm_cvar z_hunter_lunge_distance 1000  //default 750
sm_cvar hunter_pounce_air_speed 750 //maybe this doesn't work? default 700
sm_cvar z_lunge_power 650 	//default 600
sm_cvar z_lunge_up 400 		//default 200
sm_cvar z_pounce_damage_range_min  300	//default 500
sm_cvar z_hunter_max_pounce_bonus_damage 100

sm_cvar z_mega_mob_size 50  //default 50
sm_cvar z_mob_spawn_finale_size 45 //default 20
sm_cvar z_mob_spawn_max_size 50 //default 30
sm_cvar z_mob_spawn_min_size 20 //default 10

sm_cvar z_friendly_fire_forgiveness 0 //do not ignore any FF

sm_cvar tongue_hit_delay 14 //campaign default is 20
sm_cvar tongue_miss_delay 4 //campaign default is 15
sm_cvar tongue_range 1000 //campaign default is 750
sm_cvar tongue_fly_speed 1500 //campaign default is 1000

sm_cvar survivor_max_incapacitated_count 4 //default 2
sm_cvar survivor_revive_health 40 //default 30 : , "sv", "cheat" : How much temp health you get revived with.
sm_cvar survivor_revive_successive_penalty 5 //default 0 how much less temp health for each successive incap

in short:

Smoker : longer range, faster tongue regrowth, faster tongue shot

Hunter : slightly larger pounces, pounce distance bonus goes all the way to 100 damage

Tank : expert burn duration

Survivors: 4 revives instead of 2, +40 temp health for first revive, less 5 for each successive revive until healed or killed

The survivor revive buff might seem OP, but my experience is one team will get a ton of med-kits and the other team gets very few. Also, it's pretty rare for someone to be revived 2 times in a VS match because the human infected are pretty brutal and tend to kill off the weakest survivors as soon as possible. Of course, we'll need to do some major play testing as well to make sure it all works fine.

Regarding the modded settings, I'm completely fine with not using them all the time, if we want to get some OCR only vanilla games just let me know and i'll restart the server without that config file being loaded. Also, if you come up with your own custom settings and feel like it'd be fun, we can certainly try it out (either OCR/Friends only or pubbie).

Currently I have to manually change the map using remote console, and the current map rotation is hospital vs only (all the other maps will play to completion, then switch to hospital vs). We'll see if we need more RCon access as time goes on, because to my knowledge the SourceMod map changing is broken in L4D currently.

[The Damned]

Oh my god, I just found out about the elevator glitch on No mercy 4.

I must resist the urge to use it in the next camp or versus game.

No, seriously, it is just evil and broken.

[Bahamut]

I heard about the glitch last night - something about it involving killing someone else?

[The Damned]

No, you throw an object, like a bomb or a tank, and anyone it hits falls through the floor down the shaft. Instant death by fall damage.

I think that's why you can't jump in the elevator, because if you did, you would also fall.

That's a glaring error on Valve's behalf, and that shit needs to get fixed now. Griefers can use that to kill all three teammates at once.

Go ahead, try it. Hop into a single player game on No mercy 4, and grab a bomb or tank along the way.

[The Damned]

Wow, the patch is about to come out, it seems. Here's a list of what they fixed and changed.

http://www.destructoid.com/l4d-patched-for-pc-118079.phtml

Smoker and Hunter got some buffs.

Tank? Tank takes less damage against shotgun rounds.

My god, that's a little much. Smoker needed a tweak, but the Tank getting a boost against shotguns? Ouch.

[JadeAuto]

Left 4 Dead has been updated with a host of fixes, tweaks and new features, including enhancements to Versus mode for improved competitive play. The full change list is below. For PC users the update will be applied automatically via Steam. Meanwhile, the update will be made available to Xbox 360 players in the coming weeks.

General

Fixed Survivors being able to climb surfaces marked for versus infected only

Fixed a class of SurvivorBot bugs dealing with rescuing downed players

Players can no longer grab ladders while flying through the air after a Tank punch

Shooting near a car with an alarm that has already fired the alarm will no longer make chirping noises

Improved loading time

Fixed mini-gun physics exploit

Fixed propane tanks (and other physics objects) causing players to fall through elevators

Fixed rare achievement bug issues

Fixed several map exploits

Fixed various match making issues

Fixed NAT traversal issues

Versus Changes

Added HUD elements to show status of other infected players

Changed color of infected player name in chat to red

Fixed exploit where players could spawn infected bots

Fixed instance where a Survivor changing to the infected team would be attacked by infected bots

Normalized special infected melee damage

Made the following client commands cheat protected: "Kill" and "explode"

Fixed exploit where infected players could run away and teleport back to gain health

Players can only change teams once per map

Players can't change teams while other players are still loading

Tank spawns at the same % through the map for both teams in versus mode

Made the Tank and Witch spawn directly on the escape route

Increased chance of getting the Tank or Witch

Fixed team swap issue

Hunter

Easier to pounce a Survivor who is meleeing

Increased Minimum damage a Hunter pounce does

Smoker

Fixed Smoker tongue tolerance

Smoker now has to be killed or the tongue destroyed for the tongue to break

Survivors cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging

Tongue attacks that fail to paralyze or hang a Survivor will use the shorter ability delay timer

Fixed cases where the ability timer was not using the correct time

Fixed case where you could point at a Survivor but not register a tongue hit

Fixed Smoker tongue not targeting and landing properly through PZ ghosts

Smoker tongue does damage every second while dragging paralyzed Survivors

Tank

Bashable objects now appear with a red glow

Tanks hitting a car with an alarm disables the alarm permanently

Tank frustration timer is only reset by hitting Survivors with rocks or fists

Reduced autoshotgun damage against Tanks

Witch

Witch spawns at the same % through the map for both teams

Avoids spawning within a certain % of the tank

Fixed an exploit where the Witch could be woken up and tricked into attacking Survivors

^^ Cut and paste from Steam itself

[Powerlord]

*slaps Valve for not letting you add L4D servers to your Steam Favorites list*

[The Damned]

Yeah, so a few of us did some testing in a Versus match,and I'm saying right now, the Smoker just became good.

Now you can get at least one or two hits in before you get hit or someone frees the victim. Mind you, I'm pretty decent with the Smoker, so this just makes him even better.

[Garian]

haw, lousy steam/valve update casting a shadow on me! i'm going to set the server to vanilla for now then!

...until i want superman hunters again :V

[Sensai]

Hooray, they buffed the smoker! I can enjoy playing him now!

Although, to be fair, I did enjoy getting an epic smoker pull 'cause it was just so difficult to do against a team worth anything.

[Edit:]

Oh, and Garian, thanks for all that info about the server. Forgot to thank you when I posted last.

[Native Jovian]

Players can no longer grab ladders while flying through the air after a Tank punch

Awwww, I never saw that happen, but I bet it would be awesome.

Fixed mini-gun physics exploit

Someone just showed me this last night. Playing through Death Toll on expert and some genius yelled at everyone to use the "minigun glitch" instead of dropping the forklift ramp (and thus drawing the horde). Proceeded to melee the minigun for a while and then jump on top of it.... which caused him to fly straight into the air, killing him instantly when he landed. Some exploit, that.

Easier to pounce a Survivor who is meleeing

Good, maybe people will quit whining about melee spam now. (Not likely, but at least now there's hope!)

Smoker now has to be killed or the tongue destroyed for the tongue to break

Survivors cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging

So, wait a second... What could break it before? I've only ever done it by killing the smoker or meleeing the survivor, but this says that you have to wait until the survivor is stuck in order for that to work now. So can you free a survivor before they get stuck without killing the smoker? Can you shoot out the tongue itself or something? I've never tried that, but if smoker-grabs are now basically unbreakable until the survivor gets stuck, that's pretty brutal.

[Bleck]

Good, maybe people will quit whining about melee spam now. (Not likely, but at least now there's hope!)

after playing two rounds of versus after the patch came out I can confirm that melee spam is still ridiculous

[Native Jovian]

Thank you for dashing said hopes so quickly, Bleck. What would we do without you?

[Bleck]

have rap battles

[big giant circles]

*slaps Valve for not letting you add L4D servers to your Steam Favorites list*

You can, but the only way I've been able to view it is to type "openserverbrowser" in console. Your favorites should appear there.

[Powerlord]

You can, but the only way I've been able to view it is to type "openserverbrowser" in console. Your favorites should appear there.

I was hoping the out-of-game one would, too. I find it convenient to check all my games at once.

[Inimitable]

Having played a both versus campaigns post-patch, I can safely say I am totally digging this patch. My least favorite Infected (Smoker) is quickly becoming much more fun to play.

[big giant circles]

I was hoping the out-of-game one would, too. I find it convenient to check all my games at once.

Indeed, but it's better than nothing

[Garian]

So, wait a second... What could break it before? I've only ever done it by killing the smoker or meleeing the survivor, but this says that you have to wait until the survivor is stuck in order for that to work now. So can you free a survivor before they get stuck without killing the smoker? Can you shoot out the tongue itself or something? I've never tried that, but if smoker-grabs are now basically unbreakable until the survivor gets stuck, that's pretty brutal.

tongue_break_from_damage_amount : 50 : , "sv", "cheat" : How much damage to the smoker makes him let go of his victim.

basically the patch changed the default value of this cvar to 250 or whatever the smoker's HP is, so the tongue won't break when he's getting shot at until he actually dies (this actually seems like a nerf to me, because a damaged smoker could run away and make another hit)

tongue_health : 100 : , "sv", "cheat" : Tongue health

that should be pretty self-explanatory, but basically the tongue has it's own 100 HP. you can shoot it to break it, instead of killing off the smoker, extremely helpful if you can't see him, but it does mean he'll be able to attack again a little later on.

There is also a variable for how long a survivor will be pulled before being paralyzed, how bad his aim gets while being pulled, and how long a dragged survivor will wait before going into choke mode if there are obstacles. sooner or later i'll make a robust "default" config file that i can use to clear out my custom settings without restarting, but for now the server gets low traffic (basically whenever i host the lobby since no one else wants to use "sv_search_key ocremix") so the issue is really not major.

[Amayirot Akago]

Anyone here up for a Campaign later? I'm sick of being ditched by strangers cause I'm "too slow". WELL SORRY GUYS, THAT BOOMER VOMITED ON ME OUT OF NOWHERE AND THEN I GOT POUNCED BY A FUCKING HUNTER, OF COURSE THAT'LL SLOW ME DOWN.

[Garian]

I'll be up for some games after I get home from work around 10:30pm CST. I've pretty much given up on pubbie campaign because the teamwork just isn't there. Heck, half the time a team of friends has trouble working as a team if they don't know each others' play styles.

[JadeAuto]

I'm up as well, send me a message on steam if you need another player.

[Garian]

hey guys, i changed the vs config that i use for my (our, if you guys would use it!) l4d server

the name is "l4d_funtimes.cfg" and it is usually loaded by server.cfg

//VS Config
//for the OCReMix L4D server
//
//requires sourcemod
//////////////////////////////////

//tank buff, for fun and profit
sm_cvar tank_burn_duration_vs 45 //default 30
sm_cvar z_tank_health 6000 //default 4000
sm_cvar versus_tank_bonus_health 1 //default 1

//hunter buff for impressive pounces
//anyone who pulls off a max damage pounce will be friended!
//also extended hunterbot's range so he doesn't act so stupid
sm_cvar z_pounce_damage_range_max 2000  //default 1000
sm_cvar z_hunter_lunge_distance 1200  //default 750
sm_cvar hunter_pounce_air_speed 750 //maybe this doesn't work? default 700
sm_cvar z_lunge_power 850 	//default 600
sm_cvar z_lunge_up 200 		//default 200
sm_cvar z_player_lunge_up 200	//default 150
sm_cvar z_pounce_damage_range_min  300	//default 500
sm_cvar z_hunter_max_pounce_bonus_damage 100
sm_cvar hunter_leap_away_give_up_range 2500 //default 1000
sm_cvar hunter_pounce_ready_range 1000 //default 500

//larger mobs to make it a bit more difficult for rushing the maps
sm_cvar z_mega_mob_size 60  //default 50
sm_cvar z_mob_spawn_finale_size 35 //default 20
sm_cvar z_mob_spawn_max_size 45 //default 30
sm_cvar z_mob_spawn_min_size 15 //default 10

//watch your fire!
sm_cvar z_friendly_fire_forgiveness 0 //do not ignore any FF
sm_cvar sb_friendlyfire 1	//bots will now FF

//smoker buff, because the valve buff wasn't enough
sm_cvar tongue_hit_delay 14 //campaign default is 20
sm_cvar tongue_miss_delay 4 //campaign default is 15
sm_cvar tongue_range 900 //campaign default is 750
sm_cvar tongue_fly_speed 1200 //campaign default is 1000
sm_cvar tongue_victim_accuracy_penalty 1 //default 0 How much someone's accuracy suffers while being dragged by a tongue.
sm_cvar Smoker_escape_range 1000 //default 750

//buffing survivors because of director no med-kit rape >=[
sm_cvar survivor_max_incapacitated_count 3 //default 2
sm_cvar survivor_revive_health 40 //default 30 : , "sv", "cheat" : How much temp health you get revived with.
sm_cvar survivor_revive_successive_penalty 10 //default 0 how much less temp health for each successive incap
sm_cvar survivor_crawl_speed 30 //default 15
sm_cvar survivor_allow_crawling 1 //default 0

//reset values in case i fucked with them.
//looool?
//exploding is boomer, gas is smoker
sm_cvar z_speed 250 //default 250
sm_cvar z_health 50 //default 50
sm_cvar z_exploding_health 50 //default 50
sm_cvar z_exploding_speed 190 //default 190
sm_cvar z_gas_health 250 //default 250
sm_cvar z_gas_speed 210 //default 210
sm_cvar z_witch_health 1000 //default 1000
sm_cvar z_witch_burn_time 15 //default 15
sm_cvar z_tank_speed_vs 210 //default 210
sm_cvar survivor_crouch_speed 75 //default 75
sm_cvar tongue_victim_acceleration 30 //default 30
sm_cvar tongue_victim_max_speed 175 //defualt 175

//glitchers made me do it.
//good ol' melee fatigue
sm_cvar z_gun_swing_vs_amt_penalty 2 //default 1
sm_cvar z_gun_swing_vs_cooldown 1 //default 1
sm_cvar z_gun_swing_vs_max_penalty 12 //default 6
sm_cvar z_gun_swing_vs_min_penalty 6 //default 3
sm_cvar z_gun_swing_vs_restore_time 8 //default 4

//melee bash STROWNGAH
sm_cvar z_gun_physics_force 150 //default 25

//slightly bigger fires!
sm_cvar inferno_child_spawn_interval_multiplier 1 //default 1
sm_cvar inferno_child_spawn_max_depth 4 //default 4
sm_cvar inferno_damage 40 //default 40
sm_cvar inferno_flame_lifetime 15 //default 15
sm_cvar inferno_flame_spacing 50 //default 50
sm_cvar inferno_friendly_fire_duration 6 //default 6
sm_cvar inferno_initial_spawn_interval 0 //default 0
sm_cvar inferno_max_child_spawn_interval 3 //default 1
sm_cvar inferno_max_flames 40 //default 32
sm_cvar inferno_max_range 550 //default 500
sm_cvar inferno_per_flame_spawn_duration 5 //default 5
sm_cvar inferno_spawn_angle 45 //default 45

//this next section is kinda iffy... no documentation on the ghost system yet :\
sm_cvar z_ghost_delay_max 25 //default 30
sm_cvar z_ghost_delay_min 17 //default 20
sm_cvar z_ghost_spawn_distance 300 //default 300 (how far from survivors to spawn?)
sm_cvar z_ghost_spawn_interval 45 //default 60
sm_cvar z_ghost_spawn_in_start 1 //default 0 (let bosses spawn while survivors are in the starting area?)
sm_cvar z_player_zombie_min_dead_time 2 //default 2

it's a little more robust than it used to be because a lot of the variables are set by the map campaign file, and not the individual level files. so if i change things around in game (using the sm_cvar command), i can be certain that the values will be reset on the next map (unless it's a value that isn't listed here).

If you have any suggestions/question, please let me know! (either in this thread or on IRC/steam)

EDIT!!

I forgot to mention! i installed a "jetpack" sourcemod plugin that lets users fly around as if they had a jetpack. it is enabled for infected only and will run out of fuel after a short period, but refills (unlimited) after about 15 seconds. I tried enabling it for both teams but it is just too gamebreaking for the survivors to be able to fly around, and it is crippling if a guy falls to his death. to use the jetpack all you have to do is bind +jetpack to any key you like. The only quirk i noticed is that it is not enabled for the first ghosts.

double edit:

Disabled the jetpack plugin, because it doesn't seem to check if a player switches teams to take jetpacks away from the survivors after a round has been played. I'll probably dig around a little and rectify the problem sooner or later, but it's not a major issue because pubbies tend to ragequit when they see plugins anyway.

[The Damned]

Fucking hell. I can not play a single game of Versus with getting my ass handed to me.

I swear that one or more of the following took place while I was gone for ONE DAY.

1. Every single other player in the world got a lot better

2. I magically got a lot worse.

3. There was a patch given out to everyone but me that makes them play better.

4. I have been unlucky enough to join every game filled with upper-level players, no matter what time of day, server or map. This would explain a lot, but my bad luck isn't that bad.

I'm not saying I'm some hotshot super-player, but I usually hold my own. I'm a decent Infected, I know the roles and limitations of the Specials. I'm an above average Survivor, I can almost always pick off Infected without any trouble. I don't think I've ever had any real problems with playing since the demo came out. The regulars here I've played with should know how decent I am.

But the last two days have just been fucking frustrating. Twelve different games on different servers with different players. People leave, other join in, the usual. I'm not hitting the same groups, players or servers at all.

I can't seem to hit anyone as a Hunter, I can't get anywhere near anyone as a Boomer, I tongue people who then escape immediately on their own when I'm a Smoker, and the Tank? This last game, I was taking no minor hits, had most of my health left, was attacking someone, and then I died. No, I was not on fire. If I was, the game did not render any flame effects, because I never saw any. I just died. I hit tab to look at the other players, and they still all had their molotovs. No one throw one or shot a gas can. I just died for no reason.

As a Suvivor, I can't kill a Smoker without using an entire fucking clip, but they can shoot my Hunter dead with only a few M-16 rounds. I counted the shots: they fired three. How the fuck can they do so much damage when I can't even take out the weakest one of them? In No Mercy three, they killed all four of us within twenty seconds, right outside of the safe room exit. I only died last because I was around the corner of the door, shooting the hoard and the two hunters.

I swear to god, I'm either in magical suckage mode, or there's some bullshit going on some of these server. I saw a few weird things on some of them, like odd geometry changes or errors in the map (like the last match had this white line across the sky for some reason), but aside from that, there were no obvious signs of any mods or cheats active. So I can only assume that it is myself that is currently below average for some reason. I can't understand how or why, but it's the only logical conclusion.

Anyone else having sudden suckage at the moment, or am I just imagining it?