Cerebrum Halo CE Game Tracking

[Malloy]

@ avpDragon, why not have the outlines symbol you had on the other assault rifle medals in the top right corner of the achievements instead of having it two colours.

[klange]

@ avpDragon, why not have the outlines symbol you had on the other assault rifle medals in the top right corner of the achievements instead of having it two colours.
^ This; it fits with the color scheme.

* Still waiting for a separate board *

[Futzy]

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5245/achievementp.gif

[Malloy]

hot shit.

[SMASH]

MrBig, it's too intrusive. Think about when you get Xbox achievements how unintrusive it is and you can still play while noticing it.

[klange]

The problem with displaying achievements with the Medal Overlay is that we'd need to do a lot of Synapse<->Cerebrum interaction; I may even need to write a TCP server application for Cerebrum to communicate these things. Specifically, Achievements would require Synapse to have complete knowledge of a player's total stats.


However, we can pull it off by alerting Cerebrum on every incident and having it inform us of new medals and achievements... this would also mean that only Cerebrum would need to know about medals. Heh, I think we can do this...

@SMASH: In game, it would appear much smaller and would also be slightly transparent.


C-S Components
- Cerebrum: PHP and C# combined with a massive MySQL database tuned for quick access to a lot of records.
- Synapse: Part of Open Sauce for Dedi's, connects to player Medal Overlays and Cerebrum to get stats on Achievements and Medals, records all game Incidents.
- Medal Overlay: (Optional) client-side application to display Medals and Achievements on-screen.

[Malloy]

It'l be fuckin smaller than that ingame :P.

plus its the same hue as as the HUD it'l be fine.

[Futzy]

I was thinking it would just be a small little box in the corner or center. And its not like these will be popping up all the time like freind and message notifications.

[jcap]

I'm really not a fan of doing in-game achievements. Medals should be as far as it goes, because that's all local. Even then, all of this external client app stuff is on the back burner for now. It's all insignificant for the development of the stats tracking.

Like FAB said, if you do achievements, it requires constant tracking of every single person. Doing this with Xbox Live is OK, because they built it over the course of 2-3 years. Also, with Xbox Live, a lot of achievements are locally calculated (such as overkill), then communicated back over the encrypted network, communicated back, and then they are displayed on your screen. Doing the same thing with a game that pre-dates Xbox Live is way different.

[klange]

I'm really not a fan of doing in-game achievements. Medals should be as far as it goes, because that's all local. Even then, all of this external client app stuff is on the back burner for now. It's all insignificant for the development of the stats tracking.

Like FAB said, if you do achievements, it requires constant tracking of every single person. Doing this with Xbox Live is OK, because they built it over the course of 2-3 years. Also, with Xbox Live, a lot of achievements are locally calculated (such as overkill), then communicated back over the encrypted network, communicated back, and then they are displayed on your screen. Doing the same thing with a game that pre-dates Xbox Live is way different.
Precisely, Medals we can do, but Achievements are just too much for the system.

The Real C-S Framework
- Cerebrum: PHP webapp that displays stats and calculates achievements, all from XML dumps that are pushed into a massive MySQL database.
- Synapse: Open Sauce extension that tracks "Incidents" and exports them as an XML file. Also tracks medals (possibly through a Python-based rules file, if I can get km00 to accept a dependency on the C-Python libraries...)
- Medal Overlay: Reads the text chat and looks for **SERVER** [medal name], if it finds one it knows is is a medal it displays it. As this is just for fun, we don't care about server admins sending fake medals or things of that nature.

[klange]

Alright, our private board is up, and I want to say, please keep discussion of medal and achievement ideas here to a minimum (write them down and save them for later!) as later in the month, we'll be opening up the board for discussion of those sorts of things.

If you believe you can make a significant impact on the development of the system, please contact Jcap (NOT ME) by PM (I can NOT add you to the group!), and we'll see if we can get you in there.

[Futzy]

So do you want anything specific that I haven't made yet for the light release?

[klange]

So do you want anything specific that I haven't made yet for the light release?
If you can get me the gametype icons (see a few pages back), that would be great.

[jcap]

If you can get me the gametype icons (see a few pages back), that would be great.
In vectors only for now. Then we can color them anything we want.

[Heathen]

How about multiple levels of it? Say, your first 10 (which is fairly easy to get) -> "Pitch a Tent"; 100 -> It's a Legitimate Strategy!
Yes!
E: if you want the achievements, they can just be on the thing later. Like, have it where your stats are, not displayed ingame.

[Malloy]

Can you not have the achievements just as another medal as such but only a cap of one.

[klange]

Can you not have the achievements just as another medal as such but only a cap of one.
They'd require complete information on the player, including every incident they've been involved in, which we can't be downloading to Synapse - it's far too much traffic. Just in general, it's far too complex.

[Futzy]

So you want all of them to be just blank like this:
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9426/kingwhite.png

[klange]

So you want all of them to be just blank like this:
If you can, I'd like them as SVGs for my own purposes. Feel free to add borders, etc., we'd just like them grayscale.

[Futzy]

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6854/flagrzf.png
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8910/oddball.png
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/6016/juggernaught.png
I never really learned to work with Illustrator, so I wouldn't exactly know how to work the shapes to look correct when I import them from photoshop. I can give you the .psd with the paths and shape layers that you can work with yourself.
Also, just to show them in color: http://img21.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=ctfz.png

[p0lar_bear]

Just keep achievements basic and Cerebrum-side only, add more as we go if we want to.

[klange]

Just keep achievements basic and Cerebrum-side only, add more as we go if we want to.
That's the plan at the moment. I'll keep a list in the dev board :conspiracy:

[Futzy]

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6495/slayerw.png
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/2316/slayerb.png
Looks a bit odd to me, but it was the best I could do with that tiny icon. I'll have to find a better ref and fix it up.

[Timo]

I'm pretty sure if you start up halo ce and create a gametype, you'll get a nice big image around half** the same size to reference. If you need something better, I can grab the .bitmap for you.

e: http://timo.modacity.net/pix/Image_2009-07-03%201314.36.675.jpg

[Futzy]

I actually already used that, but it looked even worse.
I may have just been lazy and done it wrong so I'll do it again.

[klange]

The top of the head needs to be wider than the lower part \____/

[Futzy]

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/6495/slayerw.png
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2316/slayerb.png
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6589/ssmall.png
Looks better at smaller resolutions.

[TomClancy]

Looks good to me, but on the large version the shoulder pads look huge compared to the reference.

[Futzy]

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7016/slayercompare.png
Right side is an exact trace of the ref. The left is things I've change, along with the helmet.
Which do you prefer?

[Hunter]

Left side. Tbh, it all looks weird. Why not use the master cheif biped and render a siloet?

[TomClancy]

Exact trace looks better. Your changes are alright, but something about that shoulder pad looks funky.

[klange]

Seeing as the actual icon we use will be very small, I don't see why it matters. It looks fine, great even.
e: OP updated significantly.

[Futzy]

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6192/h3spartan.png
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7200/whiteh3.png
I had DEE make me a render.

[klange]

Heh, okay, I'll admit, that looks better than the original.

[Limited]

So uh, hows the in-game-achievement-pop-up-thingy-ma-jiggy coming along?

[klange]

So uh, hows the in-game-achievement-pop-up-thingy-ma-jiggy coming along?
There won't be one for achievements. For Medals, I'm waiting to get the source to SightJacker, as its overlays work well with Open Sauce.


e: Never mind, we have to cancel the medal overlay system due to technical limitations on how Synapse will process a game... I'm not happy about this at all.

[Futzy]

:mad:



http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/3250/bigtits.png

[klange]

:mad:
My thoughts exactly. Complain to km00, maybe he'll rethink his processing methods. I'm sure what I want can be done...

Nice logo, btw.

[Futzy]

You said there was going to be a stats signature, right?
Well here's a little mock-up I made:
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9396/70397777.png
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/9683/31338414.png

[DEElekgolo]

I made a halo 3 stats sig generator a while back. You an use that for this if you want. But seeing that your already an expert at php. I don't see why you would need me.
:D

[sevlag]

as i was bitching to bacon earlier, the pistol accumulation medals need to be higher than the other weapons, this will encourage people (hopefully)to use other weapons...

anyways this is shapin up man, great job

[Masterz1337]

How hard would this be to adapt into a Campaign scoring system? This is most impressive, I figured this would fall flat on it's face like the majority of projects started here, glad to be proven wrong :).

[klange]

We're looking to get a campaign scoring system through a client-side app sometime in August. Seeing as the same sort of events are triggered in campaign as in multiplayer it shouldn't be too hard for km00 to adapt it (I think...).

[jcap]

I really don't think a campaign scoring system would be possible as of right now, which is unfortunate because it was one of the first things I thought of (to get you to use OS more).

The only way for it to work would be for there to be a full client-side version of Synapse that would have to be activated and then authenticate the map with a scripted key, or some map checksum (so we know you're playing the map we want you to - not a custom build that would give you unlimited enemies to kill). Then, that would have to report to Cerebrum in the same fashion that the server-side Synapse would. It's entirely possible, but if it is ever done, it would have to be an afterthought. Identifying the player is really easy, though, even though they wouldn't have entered the server. We would be able to write their active profile and their hash from memory into the XML dump.

[Masterz1337]

I'd think checksums would be best, I can see people cheating the system using HMT if it's based on finding a string or hidden data in the map file.

Edit: Come to think of it, you could validate and ID a map based on checksum alone, no need for anything else. I don't think it's possible to fool the checksum. However, CE doesn't' run a checksum on the SP map it'self like MP maps, you'd have to figure out a way to calculate it yourself.

[Futzy]

Bacon, you still want those gametypes as .svg? I imported them into Illustrator and can give you the .ai or .svg file.

[klange]

Bacon, you still want those gametypes as .svg? I imported them into Illustrator and can give you the .ai or .svg file.

Yeah, thanks.

[Futzy]

Here they are: http://www.mediafire.com/?rivzieqil4m
I just put my whole gametypes folder into a .rar, which has the .pngs, .svgs, and the .ai.

[klange]

Here they are: http://www.mediafire.com/?rivzieqil4m
I just put my whole gametypes folder into a .rar, which has the .pngs, .svgs, and the .ai.
"This file is currently set to private. If this problem persists or you need further assistance, contact support."
"When a file is set to private by its owner only the owner of the file can access it. If you are the owner of the file please log into your account to access this file."

[Futzy]

Oh, I put it in my private folder by accident, it should be fixed now.

[klange]

Oh, I put it in my private folder by accident, it should be fixed now.
Thanks.

[klange]

Uploader is ready (http://cce.phpwnage.com/upload.php). You'll need an authkey (basically just a password) to use it. The gameviewer (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=example-game) has been adjusted to list games and should be fairly complete.

[Futzy]

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9803/csaugust.png

I need more stuff to do, this summer is so boring and I don't leave for vacation until the 9th :(

[klange]

I need more stuff to do, this summer is so boring and I don't leave for vacation until the 9th :(
Help km00, jcap and Shadow test Synapse-lite in an hour.

[Futzy]

What does that entail?

[klange]

What does that entail?
Playing in a game, I believe.

[supersniper]

... so I just type in my CD key?
or the CD hash?
what do I browse for...

[klange]

... so I just type in my CD key?
or the CD hash?
what do I browse for...
What now? We're not ready yet. The system is currently set up for testing of the lite Synapse package for HCEL, and even then that's not even production ready yet, won't be until I have a lot of games to look at.

[ThePlague]

I'll put my server up for testing of this if you want.

[Kornman00]

"Synapse-Lite" (which is really a Synapse featurette just baked into a build of Yelo which clients can run) is currently ready to be used however, the tool which processes the output into an uploadable XML dump hasn't been made. I asked another programmer to help make that portion of the beta as I'm starting to get burnt out concentrating on this specific stuff (and other parts of OS need to be tended to).

Come the actual release, Synapse will be the one which processes Yelo Dedi's output and performs the uploading and yada yada, cum nada. Transparency; it won't require an intervention like a drug addict.

[Donut]

... so I just type in my CD key?
or the CD hash?
what do I browse for...
i think he wants a cerebrum account. your site says that you can make one using your cd key here at modacity. but you said that stuff wasnt ready to be implemented yet?

[klange]

i think he wants a cerebrum account. your site says that you can make one using your cd key here at modacity. but you said that stuff wasnt ready to be implemented yet?
The site isn't even "up" yet, hence why it's still running on my server for testing.

No, guys, nothing is ready yet. Sit back and wait. We're only doing a preview for the HCEL tournament, and it's only of the bare-bones basics.

[supersniper]

Uploader is ready (http://cce.phpwnage.com/upload.php). You'll need an authkey (basically just a password) to use it. The gameviewer (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=example-game) has been adjusted to list games and should be fairly complete.sorry I thought you said registration was ready when you posted this...

:horny::horny:

[klange]

For you nutjobs misguided, overly optimistic people who think the guy in the bungie podcast was referring to our project, let me dispel any rumors by saying that neither I nor (to my knowledge) any of my colleagues have contacted bungie or any of the remaining support team for Halo PC, nor have I been contacted in reference to such a thing. If anyone up above would be referencing us, they would at least have the balls to contact us directly and show their approval.


Also, lul.

[Choking Victim]

Who's to say they're not watching us?

[Rentafence]

Who's to say their not watching us?

Because this is Modacity. No sane person would visit this website.

[Choking Victim]

Because this is Modacity. No sane person would visit this website.
The h2v dev team used to visit. Though judging by the product they produced, they weren't sane. I see your point.

[Kornman00]

The h2v dev team used to visit. Though judging by the product they produced, they weren't sane. I see your point.
:-\. Lets keep the external bashing of internal workgroups out of this forum.

[callmeclean]

Hay, iv been reading through all of this forum and find this really amazing, i like the universal ban list and like how you are going to have ranked, hardcore and social games. I think it would be really cool to have matchmaking and would not only bring players back but would bring in alot of modders as well. I think this would go really well with what the halo3mappingteam (http://www.moddb.com/mods/halo-3-pc) are doing, they are making all the halo 3 maps, weapons and vehicles and maybe even forge for halo custom edition and they have made the graphics look awsome due to something they did with the shaders. I think it would be awsome because you could play all the halo 3 content and have stat tracking and hopefully matchmaking just like halo3.

Iv gone to your site and have read that the lite version has been released but i assume thats private beta because i cant create account yet or find out how tot link my cd key to this modacity account. if anyone could help if would appreciate it.

Anyway i think this is so awsome and cant wait for the full thing to come out!!

EDIT: I just thought of something that would be helpful, in halo ce when you join a server that you dont have a map for it says unable to join(or is that just for me) so what you could do have option to for server admins to put in like to download and with an app make it so it downloads in background without minimizing halo and mabye a download progress bar in halo and is extracted straight into your directory for maps so once bar is done you just have to restart the game (unless there is way to get around that as well)

And mabye you could make a playlist (or whatever) like ranked/social but with no custom maps just the default halo ones but it still plays like ranked or somthing and its stats are tracked the same

[.Wolf™]

Your suggestion wont work..The game needs to restart in order to play a map you have downloaded. Wont make sense to have it like that if you need to restart the game.

[callmeclean]

yeah but im just saying that it quickly downloads through halo so u dont have to go onto browser and look for download and then extract, you can just download it and then it quickly restarts the game in about 20 secs and u are ready to play, it isnt that important but it would just be good for matchmaking cause i dont see how that would work without something like that unless they made it so the matchmaking thing only picked up severs with maps that you have which would probably be even harder!

[supersniper]

Your suggestion wont work..The game needs to restart in order to play a map you have downloaded. Wont make sense to have it like that if you need to restart the game.
Not true... E3pO found a way to do it without restarting.
I can't seem to find that video though...

[Masterz1337]

E3po is a liar and a fraud.

[DEElekgolo]

E3po is a liar and a fraud.
No. He did actually find a way. He made several videos of it as well.

[Masterz1337]

So where are the videos? If he did get it to load, he didn't get it to recalculate the checksum as a map loads, like the HCE patch was going to.

[klange]

Guys, this isn't even our job, keep it out of this thread.
If you want something to download maps, write it yourself.


@Avp: I just noticed that we need a Race gametype icon! Oh snap >_>

[Futzy]

K, lemme just fire up halo and see what it is first.

Edit:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/438/racee.png
.svg - http://www.mediafire.com/?rzjkmqwmymy

[callmeclean]

so is this going to have matchmaking??

[jcap]

As of now, that would be way too much of a stretch to undertake. We're not going to say absolutely NO because who knows what could ever pop up, but we'll say it is very unlikely.

[king_nothing_]

Ok, so I just now stumbled upon this thread. Pretty amazing. It might make me start playing CE again. August, you say?

[Ararwyn]

Oh gurd. I think CE broke the 'too much of a good thing is bad' rule. It just doesn't die. :lmao:

I'd love to help out on this project, I have plenty of experience with servers and web code. Pretty familiar with php/sql even if my scripting is kind of rusty however I can build off of whatever you implement. As far as html/css, I'm fluent and can help format the Cerebrum-Synapse Tracking website.

[The Barron]

ok i see how the ban thing works and everything... but will this ban for custom games?


I still want to have those servers at 2 in the morning with my team and just mess around glitching and all that and using dev mode for some intresting things like super jump and all

will we be allowed to do this? please say yes.:ohdear:

[Ararwyn]

ok i see how the ban thing works and everything... but will this ban for custom games?


I still want to have those servers at 2 in the morning with my team and just mess around glitching and all that and using dev mode for some intresting things like super jump and all

will we be allowed to do this? please say yes.:ohdear:

I'm thinking the system will eventually be set up so it only watches certain game types for team kills and such. Even if it mistakes people just fooling around, the fact that someone has to physically review the person before they ban them allows a moderator to check and see that 'so and so' was on a server named 'messing around' when he got 50 team kills and his account was flagged. There just needs to be a way that makes it clear to both the system and the people who join your server that your not playing a serious slayer game. Earlier on in the thread a way of notifying whether Cerebrum-Synapse should watch your server or ignore it was being talked about.

Give it time, with a project like this it takes a while for all the little unknowns to work themselves out :3

[Kornman00]

With the way the game will be data-mined, it will allow Synapse to perform computations to find out-of-the-norm gameplay performed by players who play in the server. TAKE NOTE though, it won't act (read: it won't auto-ban, kick, tickle, make sammich, etc) on those results. However if a player is MANUALLY reported, such weighted flags can be taken into consideration.

Having a global ban list really just helps ensure our rules. We don't want our stats containing plagued data, nor do we want to ruin it for the players who do want to have a recorded game, but then have to turn it off because a flagged player joins the server. Don't like it? Tough shit. It's not like we're doing a mandatory auto-update, just don't use the service. I'm sure you wouldn't be complaining if this were your precious Halo 2 and 3 statistics...

I'll leave it to jcap\Bacon to explain how and when exactly the games will be recorded as that is more of their area.

[Higuy]

Will Cerebrum track players individually (since it tracks there account/cd hash) and find out like top players in CE? That would be cool.
Sorry if its been answered before.

[jcap]

When the final version is released, the front page of Cerebrum will have leaderboards and top statistics, in addition to whatever other information we can possibbly squeeze in. Each profile MIGHT have its own rank, but we would have to figure out a way to rank them.

All players are tracked by their CD key hash. That means if I have two names, such as "jcap" and "TriplThreat", they will both show up when I query my playerID. If you sign up at Modacity and link your account, then all your Halo aliases are overwritten with your forum username, and your playerID is now your name (instead of playerid=984139, it would be playerid=jcap).

Since this will only track stats for servers it is installed on, you don't need to worry about it intruding on your fun. I love to screw around too, and we were doing it the other day on Yoyorast with our tower. Synapse has the ability to be disabled, and by default it IS disabled if you put it into /stunts mode. You don't have to worry about creating a "custom game" because you won't be running Synapse.

[king_nothing_]

Will Cerebrum track players individually (since it tracks there account/cd hash) and find out like top players in CE? That would be cool.
Sorry if its been answered before.

- Ranking System: What's the point of all this tracking if we can't put it to good use with a global ranking and rating system?
^

[jcap]

Oh right, now I remember how your rank is tracked: By your points/experience.

We're doing a Call of Duty style ranking system, where you get points for everything you do in a game.

Example: If you kill someone, you get 3 points. If you die, you get -1. If you get a headshot on someone, it is 3 + 3 points. If you get a snipe, then it is 3 + 3 + 5. These aren't final numbers, but you can get the idea.

Whoever has the most points would be at the top of the leaderboard. Additionally, your global rank would be determined by how many points you have in comparison to everyone else.

[Heathen]

Now I am not sure because I don't remember well, but is there anything antiaimbot going on in CE atm?
Or is #1 just gonna be a really discrete aimbotter jumping through the ranks?

[jcap]

Well if they're #1 or they have a fantastic record, then they're bound to get attention by someone. If you're suspicious, then you can sightjack them, bust them, and report them.

Like Kornman said, there are things that are being implemented in both Synapse in Cerebrum that will look for irregularities, but it will only flag for review. We will not disclose our criteria or methods of flagging players for obvious reasons.

[Heathen]

Good to hear it.

What do you guys (bacon and Jcap afaik) think about this. (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showpost.php?p=426335&postcount=47)
That is in reference to the "Message of the day" thread bump.

[klange]

Good to hear it.

What do you guys (bacon and Jcap afaik) think about this. (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showpost.php?p=426335&postcount=47)
That is in reference to the "Message of the day" thread bump.
I was going to reply to that with "Stop stealing my ideas before I can post them", but I got a PM from Rook with the results of the first two HCEL games...

[p0lar_bear]

ok i see how the ban thing works and everything... but will this ban for custom games?


I still want to have those servers at 2 in the morning with my team and just mess around glitching and all that and using dev mode for some intresting things like super jump and all

will we be allowed to do this? please say yes.:ohdear:

Servers running Synapse need to be registered with Cerebrum in order for stats to be collected. Your screw-around listen servers are not affected whatseoever.

[jcap]

I thought the MOTD used to be hosted by Gearbox?

Oh well, looks like Bungie has it: http://www.bungie.net/halopc-motd.txt

So yeah, if they're kind enough to modify it for us, then that would be great.

[klange]

The first real games have been posted to Cerebrum. While these games were, sadly, not captured by Synapse, they are real statistics from post-game reports. They're also not complete, PCRs lack information on Betrayals and Suicides, but regardless, they're the first ever real games to be seen on the new Cerebrum!

Game 1 (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=io_cw_tensity)
Game 2 (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=io_cw_corrupted)

[odseraphim]

I has question, as I've been out of the game for awhile. I read the "FAQ" of sorts on the front page, but I think my question is more defined by what would be possible to customize on a server to work with the Metroid Online mod.

Would I be able to add custom achievements? We don't follow the same gameplay principles as the other mods and maps out there.

Also, are there still server companies out there that would rent a highspeed server out for a month for the release that I could put this system on? I really want to build some hype for the mod, and I have a feeling that wouldn't be possible unless I was able to have a server ready for players to play on, and I think this server plugin would work excellently with teh maytroidz.

Thanks.

[klange]

Metroid Online may be a big enough thing for us to give it special consideration...

[Heathen]

that might be too complicated sdseraphim.
Plus achievements will come later.

[klange]

that might be too complicated sdseraphim.
Plus achievements will come later.
Achievements and medals are a Phase 1 feature, they'll come with the release in August. I should probably write up a note on the release phases...

[jcap]

This should be able to be used on any host. It will be similar to running rec0's app on a host. Upload the files, start the game, and you're good. Gameservers is typically fine with this, and I've had fantastic experiences with them. If you want a host, give them a try.

It would depend on what you're interested in doing with the metroid mod. I know it is a little different, but it can't be too different for it to work with the rest of the system. Achievements wouldn't be a problem (as long as they rely on the stats to generate them).

Also, one thing to note: Make absolutely SURE that you have your own clean tagset completely separate from Halo's default tags.

[Futzy]

Alright, I'm going to be locked up in a hotel room for the next week in San Diego. My mom's going to an ESRI convention, my sister will be at a sea camp, and I'll have nothing to do.
Anything anyone wants me to make should tell me, as I will have lots of free time. This includes Metroid medals and such if you were going to do that.

[klange]

I've updated the OP to include the three phases of our development cycle. We're currently in Phase 0: finishing up the alpha. When that is done, I'll start working on getting Cerebrum ready to receive XML dumps and convert them to MySQL entries based on whatever spec we decide is final.

I've started a discussion on registering a domain name in the dev board, so we should be making an announcement about that sometime in the next two weeks.

@Avp: Here's a job for you: Make us some rank and rating patches/medals. Here (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/l/blenlrank.htm) and here (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/l/blofficerrank.htm) (follow "Marines")

[Corvette19]

amazing

[callmeclean]

That would be really cool if for a few major HALO: CE mods out there they could have their own achievements. Also when i looked at pages with the ranks they dont really suit halo so maybe you should base your ranks on halo 3 instead but different.

[Kornman00]

Maybe allow users to pick their corps\branch? IE Marine, or Air, etc. Just add variety to the mix, and maybe allow specific achievements (ie, Air Force have special modifiers for Air vehicle attacks, army in vehicles, etc). Maybe even allow different "career" paths, so they can re-enlist from the Army into the Air Force when they realize they made the wrong branch choice ;p

Edit: Oh, and you can't forget Warrant Officers. While the AF is authorized WOs, they haven't used the rank in over 20 or 30 years. Army of course has the largest population of WOs. Maybe for people that show a specialty in certain weapons\gameplay (ie, returning the flag for Defense Speciatist or something vOv)

[Hunter]

That sonds like a good idea. Users can progress to get certain medals, then people could create an army/clan, with a variety of people in. Maybe they could manage the clan with your software?

[Futzy]

Well, I already did the Halo 3 ranks before - http://www.opencarnage.com/index.php?showtopic=17148&st=21

But yah, I can do the military ranks too; I like kornman's idea.

[Dwood]

Is there a possibility of having certain servers accept players only of x > 90 xp or x < 90 xp etc etc?

x being the player's xp.

[Masterz1337]

Isn't there a problem with players already?

[n00b1n8R]

Isn't there a problem with players already?
.

[jcap]

Is there a possibility of having certain servers accept players only of x > 90 xp or x < 90 xp etc etc?

x being the player's xp.

No, we're not looking to alienate players or prevent people from playing on servers due to skill. Not only that, but it increases the amount of traffic between the server and the website because it would have to check their "experience" on each join with Cerebrum.

[klange]

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128920832196077414).

e: Oh, and I just fixed CTF (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128920946354103877).

e2: Woosh, and here's some more game type determination, only for Slayer, Team Slayer and CTF: http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128920956262497293

[Siliconmaster]

Oh, nice. Cool to see development coming along.

Edit: also, -87 K/D spread? Wow... And I thought I was bad.

[king_nothing_]

K/D ratio > K/D spread. imo.

[Timo]

K/D ratio > K/D spread. imo.

This, it's what I think would've been far better in the Halo 3 stats system.

[king_nothing_]

It's just way faster and easier to figure out how well someone did by looking at a K/D ratio as opposed to a spread. If you use a spread, you have to look at their number of kills and deaths as well to get an idea of how well they actually did. A ratio works independently to tell you how someone did, though.

[klange]

I'll add K/D right next to K-D in a minute...

[English Mobster]

Oh, Bacon, you and your betrayals...

[Pooky]

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128920832196077414).

e: Oh, and I just fixed CTF (http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128920946354103877).

e2: Woosh, and here's some more game type determination, only for Slayer, Team Slayer and CTF: http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128920956262497293

Neat, the only 3 gametypes!

[Kornman00]

actually 2

:p

[klange]

Neat, the only 3 gametypes!
If only that were true, but the target audience of this prototype (HCEL) does KoTH... so we need a way to detect KoTH games. And I think they do oddball as well...

[Hunter]

halomaps is a joke... wouldnt bother giving them updates again...

[klange]

halomaps is a joke... wouldnt bother giving them updates again...
Indeed, but I promised them I'd let them know when our prototype was working. And since most other forums ignore the updates completely, I think I'll just stick to posting here until we're ready in the middle of August...

e: Happy? Or should I add it to teams, too? Meh, I'll do it eventually. Rounded everything to three digits after the decimal point.

[king_nothing_]

e: Happy? Or should I add it to teams, too? Meh, I'll do it eventually. Rounded everything to three digits after the decimal point.
Just make a new column for it. Putting it in parentheses in the spread column is ugly looking. Also, you probably only need two decimal places.

And yeah, adding it to teams as well couldn't hurt.

EDIT: Question: When this thing is finished, it's going to track and display stats for people who quit before the game is over too, right? I'm guessing it will, but I just want to make sure. Otherwise someone could just quit before the game ends if they have a bad score to avoid having it show up on their profile.

[jcap]

Just make a new column for it. Putting it in parentheses in the spread column is ugly looking. Also, you probably only need two decimal places.

And yeah, adding it to teams as well couldn't hurt.

EDIT: Question: When this thing is finished, it's going to track and display stats for people who quit before the game is over too, right? I'm guessing it will, but I just want to make sure. Otherwise someone could just quit before the game ends if they have a bad score to avoid having it show up on their profile.
I was discussing this with ShadowSpartan a while back, and I had another talk with Kornman this morning.

Every single player that enters a game and has some incident associated with them, whether is is a kill or death or anything else, will be in the stats. However, we're going to track the amount of time they were in the game for. If you were in the game for at least 80% of it (remember, the competitive games are going to be 10-20 mins long), then you will receive a multiplier or some award for the game. If you quit early, then you aren't penalized, but you don't get any bonuses and the game still counts as being played.

The multiplier would be based on the total points you accumulate in a game. Remember, we're giving points for performance, like the COD style rankings. If you get 200 points in a game, out multiplier might be something like 1.25, so you'll end up with 250 points as a reward for doing a lot and staying the length of the game.

If you have 200 points and you quit, those it's still undecided if people will get any points for quitting, but they will at least get their score (kills/deaths) included in their cumulative stats.

Multipliers would only make your score positive, so if you got like 5 deaths (-1 pt each) and no kills, you won't have -7 points by the end of the game. It will either be 0 or 7 points. Haven't thought too much about that yet.

Maybe we can have different multipliers for different lengths of time people were in games? Like if you are in for 20% you get a 0.25 multiplier, 40% is 0.5, 60% is 0.75, 80% is 1.0, and 95-100% could be 1.25? Then you get SOME points for what you do, instead of nothing. You just don't get rewarded FULL points because you didn't support your team the entire time.

[Siliconmaster]

Sounds good. Having penalties for quitting might be difficult, since I've found in Halo 1 that a lot more people join and drop out than say Halo 3 matchmaking. However, if it were a planned competitive server then penalties might make more sense, since people would probably stay in for most of the game.

[jcap]

Penalties for quitting is the gayest shit ever. You can't do that for dedicated servers. In Halo 3, it is possible because of the matchmade teams, but you can't do it in a game where you just join any server you want at any time.

That's why I introduced the idea of having the multipliers. You reward people by giving point bonuses for the amount of time they stay in a game. The very worst you can do is get no points at all. You're guaranteed to walk away with at least something, even if it's only 1/5 of what you would have gotten if you stayed the entire game.

[king_nothing_]

I was discussing this with ShadowSpartan a while back, and I had another talk with Kornman this morning.

Every single player that enters a game and has some incident associated with them, whether is is a kill or death or anything else, will be in the stats. However, we're going to track the amount of time they were in the game for. If you were in the game for at least 80% of it (remember, the competitive games are going to be 10-20 mins long), then you will receive a multiplier or some award for the game. If you quit early, then you aren't penalized, but you don't get any bonuses and the game still counts as being played.

The multiplier would be based on the total points you accumulate in a game. Remember, we're giving points for performance, like the COD style rankings. If you get 200 points in a game, out multiplier might be something like 1.25, so you'll end up with 250 points as a reward for doing a lot and staying the length of the game.

If you have 200 points and you quit, those it's still undecided if people will get any points for quitting, but they will at least get their score (kills/deaths) included in their cumulative stats.

Multipliers would only make your score positive, so if you got like 5 deaths (-1 pt each) and no kills, you won't have -7 points by the end of the game. It will either be 0 or 7 points. Haven't thought too much about that yet.

Maybe we can have different multipliers for different lengths of time people were in games? Like if you are in for 20% you get a 0.25 multiplier, 40% is 0.5, 60% is 0.75, 80% is 1.0, and 95-100% could be 1.25? Then you get SOME points for what you do, instead of nothing. You just don't get rewarded FULL points because you didn't support your team the entire time.
As long ALL stats are recorded regardless of how long you stay in the game, I don't really see much need for multipliers.

[Masterz1337]

halomaps is a joke... wouldnt bother giving them updates again...

You know what's a joke, a forum where this and Metroid are the only promising team projects. And before people get upset again I am "publicly mocking" this community, you have no right to be upset if you're going to let others take potshot of other equally important communities. Hunter, get off your high horse, you of all people are no better than any of them. I really don't want to shit up this thread, but I felt I had to say this, so you all know how to contact me with your opinions if you want to discuss this.

As far as multipliers goes, it sounds like a fair idea. Is there any plan for something to disqualify people who join a server to rack up kills and then quit before they die, booting their K/D ratios?

[Heathen]

Arg, them be a joke. Arggg.

Arg, ye all be a joke. Arggg.
You all take this too seriously. You expect the communities to be iron horses of perfection and activity?
This game is old enough to do a school shooting.
Instead of criticizing the community, don't.

[klange]

If you want to fight about things, get out of my thread. If you want to ask serious questions about how Cerebrum and Synapse will function, provide your own suggestions, and solicit your services as a graphics artist or web designer, feel free.

Halomaps will continue to receive the same updates I've been giving them: few, and far between. They have shown time and time again that they fail to understand the purpose of this system and its relationship to gameplay, and for that, their opinions will be ignored as a whole.

[Heathen]

so this only works with certain dedicated servers? Or will someone be able to set up their own server and cap flags willy nilly.

[klange]

so this only works with certain dedicated servers? Or will someone be able to set up their own server and cap flags willy nilly.
You need to sign up, get your server checked out, and are then issued a license key. Your stats are tracked by this key, and we can null all or individual games based on foul play. We can even blacklist your key and refuse to accept further registrations.

[king_nothing_]

As far as multipliers goes, it sounds like a fair idea. Is there any plan for something to disqualify people who join a server to rack up kills and then quit before they die, booting their K/D ratios?
This doesn't make sense to me. Someone doing that isn't giving themselves a bigger advantage on their cumulative ranking and stats. Sure, for that one game they might have an "N/A" K/D ratio with 5 kills and 0 deaths, but...who cares? There will be times when they die before they get a kill, or die after one kill, etc. I fail to see how the scenario you described above has any effect on the integrity of the stats system whatsoever.

[Masterz1337]

I don't like the idea of GBLing, but I don't see any better way to handle it. If your going to make it optional, maybe set up a system where the server owner has to get permission from you first. It stops people from abusing the system, but at the same time gives people the ability to request it to be deactivated on their server.

Edit: King, what I'm saying is someone goes in a server, grabs a ghost, whores it, gets some crazy amount of kills, then leaves when they think they are corned, they quit, rejoin the game, go back to what they were doing. I'm just saying it's something someone might abuse.

[Siliconmaster]

This doesn't make sense to me. Someone doing that isn't giving themselves a bigger advantage on their cumulative ranking and stats. Sure, for that one game they might have an "N/A" K/D ratio with 5 kills and 0 deaths, but...who cares? There will be times when they die before they get a kill, or die after one kill, etc. I fail to see how the scenario you described above has any effect on the integrity of the stats system whatsoever.

I agree. Even if they do that a lot, wouldn't it be possible to just check the time in the server, or number of disconnects mb?

[klange]

Alright, just wanted to put out a brief notice: We think we have all the bugs worked out in the Synapse prototype that we can actually fix. I still need to talk to km00 about one of the binary-side issues, but the rest should be cleared up.

As such, I'm going to delete all the XML dumps on the site except for the HCEL games already up there, which will be moved around, renamed, etc. This is going to happen tomorrow, after I finish building and testing my new rig. After it's done, I'll be implementing the "Recent Games" on the front page, and possibly "Popular Maps".

[Hunter]

I have sent MrBig a scene with the aiming stance imported. I have also sent him all of my weapons because before he was importing the models using HMT and he had to fix them up first.

Btw, what are these for? (The renders which MrBig is doing)

[klange]

I have sent MrBig a scene with the aiming stance imported. I have also sent him all of my weapons because before he was importing the models using HMT and he had to fix them up first.

Btw, what are these for? (The renders which MrBig is doing)
Medals and Achievements, like in Halo 3.

[Hunter]

So would he need to render vehicles as well? Or any other objects? Because I could easily send them to him because it he uses HMT and will take him longer to obtain the models.

[klange]

So would he need to render vehicles as well? Or any other objects? Because I could easily send them to him because it he uses HMT and will take him longer to obtain the models.
That would probably be a good idea.

[Hunter]

Does this application detect what the player kills people with?
Are you making it so it shows the players tool of destruction like on Halo 3?
Or achievments for getting a certain amount of kills with a vehicle or weapon.

And I will send him vehicle models now. Seems as some maps contain the pelican, would he need the pelican model as well? And maybe hornet and stuff?

[klange]

Does this application detect what the player kills people with?
Are you making it so it shows the players tool of destruction like on Halo 3?
Or achievments for getting a certain amount of kills with a vehicle or weapon.

And I will send him vehicle models now. Seems as some maps contain the pelican, would he need the pelican model as well? And maybe hornet and stuff?
In our final specifications, we record every last kill, what weapon or vehicle was involved, when precisely it happened, where the players were, and what direction they were facing (with quats).

Tool of destruction will be there, but so will large numbers of achievements and medals. Please read the rest of the thread, there's a lot of information already here on the subject.

[Hunter]

I have read most pages on this project, just didnt notice how much catching up I had to do when I wasn't on for afew days.

One question though, how are you going to implant custom vehicles into this? Will it just display the name of the vehicle if no image is present?

Edit: Sent him vehicles, warthog (rocket, chain, troop), tank, wraith (h1), pelican (h3), ghost, plasma turret (h1), hornet, elephant, ect...

[jcap]

I have read most pages on this project, just didnt notice how much catching up I had to do when I wasn't on for afew days.

One question though, how are you going to implant custom vehicles into this? Will it just display the name of the vehicle if no image is present?
We look to get stats for custom vehicles as well. Though, we're not going to go crazy over separate images. If they are killed by a CMT warthog, it is going to be a generic warthog image.

Doing custom maps will require the effort from the authors of maps. We will only do major custom maps ourselves. To do custom maps, you need to go through all of the custom tags and manually make a list of the actual tag, the name, and an image for it. That way, when a kill is logged with the weapon, we reference our list and give it a name and image.

Any kills that don't have a weapon or icon associated with them will just be logged as "unknown," unless you have a better name or alternative solution.

We're hoping to be able to circumvent map protection for this, because the tags we would reference are all <protected> when the protection is used. Sucks. If we can't figure out a way, we'll either have to prevent protected maps from gathering stats or make them all "unknown."

[Futzy]

Maybe you could allow authors to make their own medals for their maps, and set up guide lines for them to follow.

I also figured out what was wrong with the ink n' paint shader, having lights in the scene messes it up.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7218/pelicaninknpaint.png

From that I can easy create a mask so that only the edges show and use the flat image for the block of the silhouette.
Thanks again to hunter for his models. lol at his sig :)

[Siliconmaster]

We're hoping to be able to circumvent map protection for this, because the tags we would reference are all <protected> when the protection is used. Sucks. If we can't figure out a way, we'll either have to prevent protected maps from gathering stats or make them all "unknown."

And thus, the last 2 years of HEK+ drama backfires.

[Hunter]

No problem :)

Bacon, is there anything I could do for this project?

[klange]

No problem :)

Bacon, is there anything I could do for this project?
I'll post a list of all open jobs that we have tomorrow morning. It's mostly graphics design and CSS styling at this point, for now at least. km00 should have the primary dump collection covered, and we have what we need to adapt Synapse to anything.

[Siliconmaster]

I'm taking screenshots of every map I can get my hands on. I'm up to "d" in my maps folder.

[Hunter]

How big is your harddrive? Lol.

You likeing me new sig bacon? Lol.

[Siliconmaster]

'Tis a pretty sig. I have almost 3 gb of maps here, but it takes a while to load the map, find a good angle, take the pic, rename it, resize it, etc.

[Hunter]

For resizeing it and stuff make some actions in photoshop, will make it faster.

[Siliconmaster]

Heh. You caught me. I set that up yesterday so it splits all the screenshots into separate folders by resolution. I was trying to find another reason why it's taking me longer than I'd like. :P

[klange]

There's no need to resize them, I have a script that does it on an entire directory with ImageMagick automatically.

@silicon: I asked for 640x480 because it's a resolution you can select in game.

[Siliconmaster]

There's no need to resize them, I have a script that does it on an entire directory with ImageMagick automatically.

@silicon: I asked for 640x480 because it's a resolution you can select in game.

I downsize them because I'd like to have 800x600 originals for promotional purposes etc. etc.

And because trying to find a good angle while running the game at 640x480 is a horrifying concept. :gonk:

[klange]

Then just give me the 800x600s.

[Siliconmaster]

I have to convert them to .png anyway, which that same action does. So it's absolutely no extra step to downsize them. If the 640s are working, then I'll just keep sending you those. :P Plus that saves me some bandwidth. Frakking download/upload limits.

[klange]

I have to convert them to .png anyway, which that same action does. So it's absolutely no extra step to downsize them. If the 640s are working, then I'll just keep sending you those. :P Plus that saves me some bandwidth. Frakking download/upload limits.

I can do that with my IMscript as well...

[Siliconmaster]

I can do that with my IMscript as well...

Yes, but .png is also about 4 times smaller than the initial .tga files. :eng101: Either way, I have to process them before sending. :)

And this is probably the longest 2-person conversation I've seen on the forums in a while. :v:

[p0lar_bear]

King, didn't you have an equation you and/or your clan made up that worked pretty well for determining player performance in any gametype? What was it?

[Kornman00]

yes, it was:

if(player.Name == "kornman00")
player.Winner = truedat;
else
player.Winner = bullshit;

[StankBacon]

King, didn't you have an equation you and/or your clan made up that worked pretty well for determining player performance in any gametype? What was it?


((caps*8) + kills + (assists*0.5)) / (deaths + 1)

http://www.hivclan.net/screenshots.htm

[Masterz1337]

I'm sure people are going to betray to get those flag cap points.

[Siliconmaster]

Yeah- what about the support guy, who kills anyone trying to steal the flag? Seems baised against them, even though it is otherwise a perfectly logical equation.

Addition: I can also report that I've gathered images for 96 maps. Unfortunately this is but a small fraction of the many maps out there. Next I'm going to look at the 100 most played maps list on halomaps and fill in any gaps.

And I'll hand it to SuperSunny- every time I wind up in one of his maps I find myself wandering around in a stupor, both in game and out. They're so... druggy. :iamafag: That man can manipulate my brain. :tinfoil:

[Heathen]

I'm sure people are going to betray to get those flag cap points.
same shit in halo 3 though :/

[king_nothing_]

((caps*8) + kills + (assists*0.5)) / (deaths + 1)

http://www.hivclan.net/screenshots.htm
Thar it is. The only thing I would suggest changing is the caps multiplier. Instead of a constant it should be based on the number of people in the game at the time. Something like caps*(player count/2), or if possible, caps*opposing team player count.


I'm sure people are going to betray to get those flag cap points.
We shouldn't stop ourselves from adding features because of what some unsavory people might do. We just need to think of ways to combat them.

I wonder if it's possible for this system to detect when someone is holding the flag. If so, it would be possible to detect such a scenario. If someone gets a TK, picks up the flag, and scores, in that order and in rapid succession, then punish them accordingly.

[Kornman00]

The system is rather robust and verbose. So yes, a scenario like that could be detected.

[Limited]

What happens if for instance flag carrier is getting nailed by enemies so a teammate nades like crazy to kill the enemies, then accidentally kills the flag carrier, obviously picks flag up and legs it.

I do agree people should be punished for purpose tking for caps. I also think kings idea about the multiple being effected by how many people in the server. Although teams will have to be not stacked.

[StankBacon]

if you nade a teammate who is getting shot by enemies, the enemy will get the kill (usually)

[Hunter]

yes, it was:

if(player.Name == "kornman00")
player.Winner = truedat;
else
player.Winner = bullshit;

Lmao, would +rep but got to wait 24 hours.

And bacon, I am alright with photoshop, so if you need some graphics making then just tell me. :)

[Masterz1337]

Thar it is. The only thing I would suggest changing is the caps multiplier. Instead of a constant it should be based on the number of people in the game at the time. Something like caps*(player count/2), or if possible, caps*opposing team player count.


We shouldn't stop ourselves from adding features because of what some unsavory people might do. We just need to think of ways to combat them.

I wonder if it's possible for this system to detect when someone is holding the flag. If so, it would be possible to detect such a scenario. If someone gets a TK, picks up the flag, and scores, in that order and in rapid succession, then punish them accordingly.
Why do you assume I'm saying not to include the feature? I'm just pointing it that aspect has to be addressed. I'm on the same page as you.

[klange]

All dumps have been cleared from the system as dump testing should now be done and we wanted a clean slate.

To view the HCEL games, prepend "hcel/" to the game ID (right after ?g=).
All the rest are in backups/ if you care to look for the example-game, etc.

Tomorrow I'll be working on the game listing, which will show quite a few recent games, as well as the front-page "recent games" block on the right.

[Limited]

All dumps have been cleared from the system as dump testing should now be done and we wanted a clean slate.

To view the HCEL games, prepend "hcel/" to the game ID (right after ?g=).
All the rest are in backups/ if you care to look for the example-game, etc.

Tomorrow I'll be working on the game listing, which will show quite a few recent games, as well as the front-page "recent games" block on the right.
Is the test server a public server?

[klange]

Is the test server a public server?
It's not yet server-side, but yes, the server on which I run the tests is public.

[SYN] BUNGNULL ~ Synapse Alpha Test!!

Usually runs horrible normal maps like Wizard and Beav- Battle Creek (which will forever be known as Beaver Creek to Cerebrum, I'm putting it in the map name translation database like that >:| ), but if you request something and I have it (or more importantly, the server has it), I'll run it.

I'll put it around 10PM EDT (1 hour from now), and jump in to collect some new games.

[Limited]

1 hour eh? 3am...might join in. As long as it has a few people in.

[supersniper]

It's the USG server isn't it?

[Siliconmaster]

Hurr lag. That would be my fault. I survived long enough to charge what apparently turned out to be a member of my own team, who then betrayed me. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted. :downs:

[sdavis117]

I believe that the server is down. Can someone confirm this?

[Limited]

I went down for a bit, lagged out or something its back up but on infinity :D

4:30am, my Halo skills are deteriorating, time for sleep.

http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128922746024745479

http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128922715943714683

:D

[Siliconmaster]

New001 has the same stats as I did in the one game I joined (lol), but it must have been a different one since I was sm482. Unless I was lagging so badly it didn't even recognize my name. o_o

[sdavis117]

You're kidding me, that CTF game that I actually did good in wasn't uploaded?

Off with his head!

[ThePlague]

I was messing around the whole time. My left hand is asleep so I can't play wortha shit. Was still fun though.

[klange]

We'll continue to do games like this if we make any more changes to the prototype, and just generally to collect new games.

For future references, here are some ground rules and quirks:
This is an ALPHA PRODUCT, it is merely a prototype of score collection. It works in no where near the same way as the final product which will be delivered later this year.
- The system doesn't do Oddball, we don't know where the scores are stored, but they're not in our little score memory block, so we can't retrieve them. We haven't discussed it with km00 yet, so there may be hope for fix; it's just not high enough priority, the final version is much more important.
- This runs on the a client, particularly me. It has two parts, one is a Yelo DLL that writes a binary dump ~4KB, the other is a C# app that converts it to an XML file and uploads it. With the way it works, we can only give it to certain, well-qualified people.
- It doesn't record final scores for teams. We collect the scores from the players in the game at the end and total them up. This will not get fixed unless km00 wants to do it in his spare time or Shadow can work out the changes.
- With that, you need to be in the server when the game ends to have your scores counted.
- Sometimes Yelo screws up reading a player, usually because of a quit and rejoin somewhere along the line (not even necessarily by that player). When this happens, that player may be completely corrupted. Luckily, this has a constant effect of clearing the player name. We delete all blank players from the record before uploading. It may mean you got screwed out of the game, but better that than a messed up record.

[Siliconmaster]

- With that, you need to be in the server when the game ends to have your scores counted.
- Sometimes Yelo screws up reading a player, usually because of a quit and rejoin somewhere along the line (not even necessarily by that player). When this happens, that player may be completely corrupted. Luckily, this has a constant effect of clearing the player name. We delete all blank players from the record before uploading. It may mean you got screwed out of the game, but better that than a messed up record.

Well, that explains my absence. :P So right now if you quit right before the end of a game, your scores aren't counted? At all? Doesn't this mean you could cheat out of a bad game?

[klange]

Well, that explains my absence. :P So right now if you quit right before the end of a game, your scores aren't counted? At all? Doesn't this mean you could cheat out of a bad game?
Seeing as this isn't a production system, there's no worry of cheating. It's "just for fun" that we're using it in real games at all. We could just test with the dev team in a "scripted" game.

[Siliconmaster]

Ah. A good point, sir. Just exploring the theoretical possibilities. :)

[Futzy]

Ok, so this is what I'm thinking the renders for the achievements and such will look like.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5842/backinknpaintcut.png
I just made it red so you can see it.

[jcap]

I don't like it.

Keep achievements down to the most basic thing of what they are.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/achievements.php?gameID=274

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/halo-2-pc/achievements/

Just mimic those design concepts. Almost none of them have any Chief in them (exception being one like Mongoose mowdown).

[Limited]

When you say client, you mean runs on your copy of Halo, so the dedicated could be on another computer and it wouldnt matter. Final version will work with the dedicated server, right?

So, nothing stops you (Bacon) having the "test" servers on another server? Maybe less laggy one?

[jcap]

When you say client, you mean runs on your copy of Halo, so the dedicated could be on another computer and it wouldnt matter. Final version will work with the dedicated server, right?
Yeah. Right now, the dedi version isn't ready.

[klange]

So, nothing stops you (Bacon) having the "test" servers on another server? Maybe less laggy one?
I wanted to raid another server but no one would go find one that wasn't lagging for them...

[Futzy]

I can try taking the ground textures for the stock mp maps and vectoring them for map achievements.
Here's a go at it:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/420/bloodground.png

And those renders could still be good for vehicle achievements/medals.

[Advancebo]

Map Achievements?

10g - Played on Bloodgulch # of times

[jcap]

Map achievements are rather lame, IMHO. If you want achievements for specific maps, you're better off doing like Bungie with their Mythic Map Pack.

[Morkon2112]

or have map achievements for custom maps only...it would be nice playing in custom maps on halo custom edition

[Sel]

or have map achievements for custom maps only...it would be nice playing in custom maps on halo custom edition

^

^^^^

[klange]

Hey, look, a list of recent games (http://cce.phpwnage.com/gamelist.php). And when my computer's clock has the right time during uploads, it's even in order (newest first)!

[SMASH]

is this still going and is there a pass on the server?

[klange]

is this still going and is there a pass on the server?
We haven't run a server today, we had one on Thursday. We never put a password on our test servers, as we want as many people as possible. Right now, we're running it on the Bunghole, which I just crashed by doing `/teams *` with Devicator (oops).

[klange]

Slight update: I set up a screenshot uploader if anyone wants to contribute screenshots. There's a password on it, so you'll need to talk to me to get at it. Basically, just upload an 800x600 or 640x480 image, enter the map name, and it'll be shrunk down to 200x150 for our system. Our final system will be a bit more complex on the matter, but for reasons I can't exactly divulge right now. So, if you're interested in taking screenshots for Cerebrum, PM me.

e: I'm having Silicon fill in the holes in the game list (http://cce.phpwnage.com/gamelist.php) at the moment. Run through the map list at http://cce.phpwnage.com/maps/ to reduce duplicates. If you see one you don't like, replace it with something better.

[Siliconmaster]

I've added screenshots for the majority of the maps on the map list, but for time and download limit reasons I think I'll stop tonigh-

Holy fuck it's 5:30am...

Yeah, to hell with it- sleep is necessary.

[Boba]

This is a really ignorant question, but will OS allow medals to appear in-game, or is it strictly in the post-game report viewer? I've been out of the loop so long that OS seems magical in it's abilities. :tinfoil:

[klange]

This is a really ignorant question, but will OS allow medals to appear in-game, or is it strictly in the post-game report viewer? I've been out of the loop so long that OS seems magical in it's abilities. :tinfoil:
OS won't be able to do that, no. We're planning on trying to write up a client app that does the same thing as our server-side app: process the event stream, but instead do it live while looking for medals and then display them to the screen as an overlay, but km00 has his doubts that we'll be able to process the event stream like that, thinks it'll be too CPU intensive.

[klange]

Bump: We fixed Oddball in our Synapse prototype. km00 made it dump a lot of other information, most of which we don't care about, but some of that is oddball scores.

[Limited]

I went down for a bit, lagged out or something its back up but on infinity :D

4:30am, my Halo skills are deteriorating, time for sleep.

http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128922746024745479

http://cce.phpwnage.com/viewgame.php?g=128922715943714683

:D
Uh, were my games deleted???

[klange]

Uh, were my games deleted???
We cleared out all the games. The ones from the 16th should still be there, but they've moved (I accidentally uploaded a bunch of them with the wrong clock time, put the entire thing off by four hours, reuploaded everything else so the order was right). Check here (http://cce.phpwnage.com/gamelist.php).

[Sel]

Nice stuff!

[English Mobster]

Isn't the dedi on the Modacity box still running? That box hardly lags at all from my experience, you could send Cerebrum to Jcap or Ghost and have a lagless server, then just manage it via rcon.
Should be easy enough.

[klange]

Isn't the dedi on the Modacity box still running? That box hardly lags at all from my experience, you could send Cerebrum to Jcap or Ghost and have a lagless server, then just manage it via rcon.
Should be easy enough.
It doesn't work that way...

Cerebrum is our b.net, Synapse is what runs on the server, and even then, the current prototype runs client-side and will continue to for the next two weeks or say.

[supersniper]

yeah that modacity.net wserver is actually really good to play on.

[jcap]

Just to answer your questions about that server: Yes, it's still up. When we get the first server of this, it will run on there.

[Futzy]

Don't know if you're looking for a new site design, but here's a concept I made.
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5195/conceptj.png
I didn't do much to it because I probably won't continue it if you don't want it.

[king_nothing_]

Don't know if you're looking for a new site design, but here's a concept I made.
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5195/conceptj.png
I didn't do much to it because I probably won't continue it if you don't want it.
Honestly I think they should get rid of the Halo texture background. Kind of makes the site look unprofessional in a way, imo.

Your design is pretty decent, though I'm not sure about that blue color.

[klange]

We already have a well established and discussed site theme that we're not going to show you until it's ready.

For future reference, please don't attempt to restyle the current site which is simply our functional prototype.

[Futzy]

K

[klange]

TPV (thread-post velocity) has slowed here, so I thought I'd try to pick it back up with another set of announcements:

First off, we've got our release schedule. The next two weeks are being spent taking the functional prototype you see at http://cce.phpwnage.com/ and moving it to our top-secret final build. The first week will involve moving the current final-stats system over, and the next week will involve implementing proper reads of our final XML format, which we have dubbed "SIX" for Synapse Intermediary XML. Now, we probably won't be revealing the final product in two weeks, but we will have it ready to go. Expect Cerebrum to be shown in its final form around the time kornman00 finishes Synapse and Open Sauce Update #2.

Second, we've been making mention of our personal ranking of "ONI Black Ops", and I'm now touting it in my signature and other places, so I thought I'd make the announcement on it.

There are four different ranks associated with ONI Black Ops. In a way, it's its own department like the Marines, Army and Air Force that you will be seeing in the final Cerebrum. However, there is a difference: You can't move up these ranks by playing Halo. The ranks are given for various levels of involvement in Cerebrum and Synapse themselves. Consider the top three of these ranks our flaming heads and the bottom rank our Recon.

The four ranks are named for the four sections of ONI in the Haloverse:
- Section Zero consists of actual developers of Cerebrum and Synapse, particularly myself, jcap, kornman00 and ShadowSpartan
- Section One includes are graphics department, currently siliconmaster482 and MrBig for screenshots and fresh graphics for emblems, achievements and medals (respectively).
- Section Two is reserved for the staff the keeps Cerebrum flowing when it is finished.
- Section Three is given to our contest winners, currently only DEE has this, but the winner of my personal "Skin Hunter's Hornet" will earn it as well.

The thing with the ONI Black Ops ranks is that they are opt-in for those who earn them, and any of us are free to turn them off if we wish. Of course, I suck at Halo, so you can safely assume I'll be using the rank the entire time.

[Limited]

So if regular joes cant earn them, why have them? Or at least, why have them but NOT have a ranking system that is earnt by playing Halo?

I do agree the developers need a way to stand out from the crowd, so people know they did the work to get it all going.

[king_nothing_]

Or at least, why have them but NOT have a ranking system that is earnt by playing Halo?
There is (will be, rather) a ranking system that is earned by playing, isn't there?

[klange]

There is (will be, rather) a ranking system that is earned by playing, isn't there?
There are four(?) ranking systems to choose from, each with special achievements (and you can switch around as you wish). We thought we'd mix it up a bit from just the typical Marines you see in Halo.

Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force if I'm not mistaken... kornman00 or jcap can correct me if I'm wrong.

[Futzy]

There are four(?) ranking systems to choose from, each with special achievements (and you can switch around as you wish). We thought we'd mix it up a bit from just the typical Marines you see in Halo.

Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force if I'm not mistaken... kornman00 or jcap can correct me if I'm wrong.
Forgot about that, you still want me to vector those ranks?

[klange]

Forgot about that, you still want me to vector those ranks?
Well, we need them, so yes?

[Hunter]

I can haz ReconI can haz ONI Black Ops? :toughguy:

[DEElekgolo]

Why aren't I in section one? D:

[Futzy]

And it begins...

[ShadowSpartan]

Why aren't I in section one? D:
Because you won the logo contest, and as far as I know, that is the only thing you have done for this project.

[klange]

Because you won the logo contest, and as far as I know, that is the only thing you have done for this project.
Where as MrBig is our primary web graphics designer, doing all of the medals, achievements and emblems.

[supersniper]

When you choose your 'rank'
Can you switch to another after you pick.

Like you pick airforce then later on you want to switch to navy or something?
Will that be possible?

How are you choosing the staff?
People you trust?

[klange]

When you choose your 'rank'
Can you switch to another after you pick.

Like you pick airforce then later on you want to switch to navy or something?
Will that be possible?

There are four(?) ranking systems to choose from, each with special achievements (and you can switch around as you wish).

How are you choosing the staff?
People you trust?
As it's an administrative thing, it's Jcap's job to decide how that will go down.

[jcap]

Staff will probably be decided based on present and past involvement with catching cheaters. We'll only choose people who know what to look for.

When it starts out, we will probably have long-term community members who were part of the original sightjacker and bot list as our reviewers. In my opinion, those who built the original list are most reliable and have the experience with what we're looking for.

We'll probably have a thing where you can file a complaint against a player, and as part of that you will be able to link to a video with proof. Since your forum username would be associated with the submission, we'll be able to see who is submitting what. If we find that a certain member is finding a lot of people and they know what they're looking for, we might consider giving you a position for reviewing videos.

[king_nothing_]

When it starts out, we will probably have long-term community members who were part of the original sightjacker and bot list as our reviewers. In my opinion, those who built the original list are most reliable and have the experience with what we're looking for.

:realsmug:

[supersniper]

I see.
Well can't wait for it too be done.
Lol King's excited cuz he's got a spot ;)

Lol bacon I missed that thanks though.

[StankBacon]

:realsmug:

lol.

[sevlag]

i'll be happy to review videos as 9 times out of 10 i have nothing better to do :3

[klange]

Development Blog, Day 33
We're starting to finalize our MySQL table structure in preparation for the move to the final specification of our SIX format. Cerebrum will be making a guest appearance on a certain audio program I'm sure we all enjoy listening to. In other news, I want to make the difference between Cerebrum and Synapse a little more apparent.

Cerebrum is the web site. It's our "bungie.net" for Halo CE. It is the online headquarters. There is only one Cerebrum, and it is under our control.

Synapse is an extension to Open Sauce by kornman00 himself that produces a binary dump of Halo's event stream.

Please, when PMing, IMing or Tweeting me, keep this difference in mind. I work on Cerebrum, not Synapse, and if you want to talk about how our system integrates with Halo, you should not be talking to me.

[Dwood]

I'm working on learning C++ right now (specifically stuff to deal with Halo) so I may be able to help get Korn off Halo when he leaves.

[SMASH]

.... I may be able to help get Korn off ...

I'm sure korn can get off just fine himself :P.

[Limited]

I'm working on learning C++ right now (specifically stuff to deal with Halo) so I may be able to help get Korn off Halo when he leaves.
Oh rly? If you need any help, ask :) What kind of things you looking to do?

[supersniper]

Wait a minute.
How are you guys going to detect other types of hacks.
Blue walls, wireframe, chams, blue arrow, trainers...
Wouldn't it be easier to have a hack detection program that can detect when a player is using an external app?
Like how JohnnyBlaze did for his servertool for halo 2 vista.

Because yes sj'ing for botting is easy but for a wallhack or blue arrow... that can be difficult or nearly impossible.

[StankBacon]

not really.

[Kornman00]

Well for one, this is Halo 1, not H2V, there are different networking models at work. Wire-frame isn't really that advantageous, I'm not sure what you mean by blue walls or "chams" or what blue arrow does, and the only real "trainer" that can really make a difference is an aimbot which we have ways to detect (both automated and via human auditing).

In a PC environment there will always be cheaters, its just a matter of fact and way of life. Even if a client sided application was made, one can easily tamper with such a system. Security through obscurity only lasts for so long so its just one of those times where its just better to be defense (with various documented detection, transparent to clients) rather than offense (external application causing more network activity and CPU useage on both the client and server)

[Limited]

Well for one, this is Halo 1, not H2V, there are different networking models at work. Wire-frame isn't really that advantageous, I'm not sure what you mean by blue walls or "chams" or what blue arrow does, and the only real "trainer" that can really make a difference is an aimbot which we have ways to detect (both automated and via human auditing).

In a PC environment there will always be cheaters, its just a matter of fact and way of life. Even if a client sided application was made, one can easily tamper with such a system. Security through obscurity only lasts for so long so its just one of those times where its just better to be defense (with various documented detection, transparent to clients) rather than offense (external application causing more network activity and CPU useage on both the client and server)
I was thinking we could detect if the aimbot app was running. We can search processes in DLL right?

[klange]

Special surprise in this week's Podacity!

[king_nothing_]

So, it's August now.

What'sagoinawn?

[klange]

So, it's August now.

What'sagoinawn?
Read the check list at the bottom of the OP.

[Dwood]

Read the check list at the bottom of the OP.

....So that means Public beta soon! Awesome.

[klange]

ATTN: Server administrators currently running any form of modified server.

The server you are running may have had its CD key check system stripped if it was patched against the Halo Loop exploit. Servers without a proper CD key check will be blacklisted from Cerebrum and will not be able to provide statistics. A fix will be made available soon by a third party that will have both the Halo Loop security patch and still have the CD key authentication.

[ThePlague]

Mmk. Right now I have the messed up one, so i'll be needing that :)

[Cortexian]

It was fixed by Bacon, I'm now using the new executable and I went through my database for Rec0 and removed all entry's with a shit ton of names.

[Futzy]

I have to do a bunch of stuff before school starts up again, so all I will be able to get to you this month will be the Halo 3 ranks.

Military ranks and anything else you want from me will have to wait unless you can get someone else to do them.