Sven Co-op: Pleasing Taste, Some Monsterism

Content Release 4! Also, SvenCo-op Insider™ Launches!
31 March, 2003 | by Sven Viking

Before I get to the content release, I'd better tell you about SvenCo-op Insider™... partly because it's so great! And partly because non-subscribers may have trouble getting to the site next week.

Here at Sven Co-op HQ we're tired of giving things away for free. Sven Co-op has been played by hundreds of thousands of players at no cost! We turned down the idea of robbing a bank in favor of an idea that gives something back to YOU. Say hello to Sven Co-op Insider™!

Sven Co-op Insider™ is a mod first. Subscribers get the latest news, patches and fixes for that nasty hard drive bug MONTHS before the general public! Don't be a sucker, sign up today!

Here are just a few of the features you can expect:

- Instant access to any file you want - Non subscribers will have to use the Free Service (See inside)

- (Sometimes) Advertisement-free Sven Co-op pages!

- Priority tech support!

- Test and play the new Sven Co-op before anyone else!

- Exclusive files and patches!

- Proper release date estimates! No more "When it's done" (TM)

- Subscriber-Only Monsters!

Even if you decide not to subscribe, and leech off the team's success, there are still benefits for you. The new download system improves the wait for patches! (see inside)

Go to the SvenCo-op Insider™ section NOW for full information, screenshots, and signup forms!! If you don't look, and end up having a hard time connecting to servers, don't blame us.

Content Release 4 - The Ballad of SvenCo-op: A chronicle of the process of, and tribulations involved in, trying to get a SvenCo-op version out the door... told in the form of an epic ballad.

Though the ballad was originally conceived during attempts to complete v2.0 Beta, I feel that it fairly well captures the feeling of trying to finish and release any SvenCo-op version. The song is told from Sniper's perspective... original idea/editing by Sven Viking, some samples by [GIT]r-man. Jerig and Flashbang are working on the music video.

Download The Ballad of SvenCo-op from the Files page. I admit I'm rather afraid that some people might not like it, but ah well... not everyone can truly appreciate art.

Sniper's part played by Bernard Cribbins.

In addition to the Ballad, three new songs by(GIT)r-man are now available for use with the in-game MP3 player -- two of which were inspired by SvenCo-op. The titles are Co-opman, Viking, and Russian Lobby.

There're also two tracks by a friend of his, Hetoreyn, who also composed the soundtrack for Deep Angel. One is Sila Lumenn, a SvenCo-op track, and the other is Summertime, with (GIT)r-man on the guitar :).

Grab them all from the Files page!!

This is likely to be the last content release freely available for non-subscribers, so whatever you do, be sure to check out SvenCo-op Insider™... before it's too late!

Screenshots, MADWHACK contest, etc.
28 March, 2003 | by Sven Viking

Content Release 4 was going to be the Creepsworld map pack, but it's been delayed slightly for a couple of reasons, so instead we have this interim update. Don't worry, though, we'll have another release within the next 2-3 days.

The screenshots to the left are from the upcoming Creepsworld Map Pack. The maps included with this pack are as follows:

Delta Return by TheRealGame
Gitfest4 by [GIT]r-man
LabFlee by eMTeG
Leprechaun Trilogy by Penguin
Never by BMTwigzta
OMG by Turrican
SpaceViking2 by Salamander
SubwayTrain by Dutchtux
Sledge by Turrican
Tower Series by Larry
Why by TheRealGame

Syop wins the MADWHACK competition! In case anyone's wondering, MADWHACK stands for:

Monster

Alignment upon

Death

With

Hilarious

Aerial

aCrobatic

Kill

MADWHACK Physics. aCrobatic was a bit of a dirty trick, I admit :), but there was a clue to it on the forum thread. Thanks to everyone who participated!! Here are some of the other guesses:

- Drugs
- Pornography
- Insanity
- Some combination of the above
- Mixing All Dimensions With Hectic Angle Correction
- Making All Dimensions Work Hacking Around Code
- Monsters Are Dumb When Hunting After Clients
- Motion, Action Dependant, With High Altitude Corpse Kruising
- Modified Arial Deaths using Weight, Height and Conditions
- More Aggressive Damage Wiring Hgrunts Away Curiously
- Measured Anger Density While Having A Classified Killingspree
- Miscellaneous Addition Due Waiting Helping Addicted Concussed Kids
- Misnamed Application Done With Hacking Around Commented Knick-knack
- Media Addition During Weekly Haste At Content Kudos
- Mad And Delightful Whacking Hence A Cool Knockout
- Me Applies Dangerous Whacking Hideous Attackers Cannot Know

Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest!! We might have another, later on.

Update: Want bigger, more complex maps? Want to see the end of the "Out of sfx_t" error? Not just for SvenCo-op... for all Half-Life mods. If so, have a look at this petition (it's not ours, but we support it).

Regarding the system requirements changing from what's on the box: Setting the limits could be left up to individual modmakers... there are already plenty of things modmakers can do to make their mods unplayable with 24meg RAM (I'm pretty sure it was 16mb originally, but it's 24 on the new boxes)... might as well let them make bigger, better mods at the same time. How many of you are still on 24mb of RAM, anyway? A lot of people have 128meg of RAM just in their video cards, nowadays.

If you're of the same mind, might be worthwhile spreading the word...

Someone's been going around servers pretending to be me, over the last couple of months, by the way. Not sure of why... it's been causing some confusion, though. His WON ID is "2721648" if you want to ban him... he'll be banned automatically in 2.5 (if it'd just been a couple of times, it'd be different, but he seems to have set out to become a professional impostor or something).

Anyway: Warning to anyone else who might consider this sort of thing: Impersonating team members can potentially result in us banning you from the mod. Note to everyone else: SC team members can flash a red "Sven Viking is on the server"-type message onto everyone's screens on command... if someone claiming to be a team member refuses to do this, he's most likely an impostor.

Content Release 3: MADWHACK Physics Media
25 March, 2003 | by Sven Viking

Just when you thought we were beginning to do things to some sort of schedule... :).

Generally, the deal is that there'll be some things happening in April that'll likely prevent me from releasing content on time, so we're going to be even looser with the 'weekly' idea than originally intended. For now, though, that's a good thing, as the content's coming considerably more frequently rather than less. There're going to be five content releases within fourteen days (counting from "Week 1").

Content Release 3 is information on our new MADWHACK (it's an acronym) Physics system. CLICK HERE for a detailed explanation, tons of screenshots, and one 500k AVI video clip (you'll need the latest DIVX codec... get it from the DIVX site, or download the K-Lite Codec Pack for a whole selection of audio/video codecs).

You might have noticed some partially-hidden text at the bottom of the last news post (scroll down a bit and highlight it to read more easily). A few people have been wondering about the answer to the question, so I thought I'd mention it here...

Tiny Critters were used on Atomic Half-Life, the Half-Life news site I used to run from a few years before Half-Life was released to when our host closed down (we were actually one of the top 4 news sites for a while... Half-Life.net was the biggest at that stage. Later on, Contaminated.net (now Planet Half-Life) started up, and we ended up outmanned and outgunned :) ).

Anyway, I just edited some screenshots and concept art and stuck them at the top of each news post. I've sort of missed them over the last four years (they're just so cute ;) ), so now they're back, filling in between news posts.

In the process of checking on some of this, I actually found the final version of the site in question, and have updated the Nostalgia section with it... It shows that the first SvenCo-op beta was released on the 19th of January, 1999... on AHL, there's actually news of an interview with Gooseman, dated the 27th of February 1999 (the interview's actually still up, by the way... check out this early player model :) )... interesting to note that Counterstrike was an unnamed and unknown project back then. Most people thought Gooseman was working on Action Half-Life at the time, since he was known for making the ActionQuake2 weapon models .

Which reminds me of how much I miss AQ2 DM :/. Ah well.

New contest: First person to guess exactly what MADWHACK stands for gets a free electric crowbar! Presuming anyone can guess it, that is. Just to make things more difficult: Not all letters (e.g. the K) are necessarily used. Or are they? ;)

Week 2: Improved HL Single-Player Storyline Support
22 March, 2003 | by Sven Viking

This week's content is an update to SvenCo-op 2.1's support of Valve's original single-player maps. The patch allows you to play through the game co-operatively, from the end of the introduction (train ride) to the final battle, with only a few minor sections skipped. Many maps have been updated to better suit multiple players... more monsters have been added, as well as new types of monsters. Some maps have been altered to reduce lag.

Grab the update from the Files page (4.6mb). Clients will want to run a Client Install so necessary files don't need to be downloaded straight from servers (i.e. if you don't want to run a server or play off-line, but you do want to play the SP maps on other people's servers, download the update and select Client Install during installation).

This update to SvenCo-op's SP support is based on files created for us by Guardian-tpf-. Thanks to him for all the work he put into them!! Some changes and additions have been made by the SvenCo-op team. A slightly improved version the files will be used in SvenCo-op v2.5. If you encounter any bugs or problems, please post details in this forum thread.

The FAQ has been updated -- thanks for Commando for most of the additions!
P.S. - After a four-year break, Tiny Critters are back! I'll give an Electric Crowbar to the first person to name the site on which they originally appeared :).
Update: 'Honking Donkey' wins the crowbar!! I'll probably reveal the answer in the next news post.

Scads of SvenCo-op Content Coming! - Week 1: Full Current Change List
19 March, 2003 | by Sven Viking

Apologies yet again for the lack of news updates... we tend to be pretty busy :/. Things are going to be different over the next few weeks, though... we've been preparing a ton of new content, and I'm intending to release one of the below once each week (not necessarily on the same day each week, mind you... and not necessarily in this order).

Updated Support for Valve's Single-Player Missions

This update to SvenCo-op 2.1 will allow pretty-much the entire Half-Life SP storyline to be played through co-operatively from beginning to end. Some minor sections are skipped, but chapters such as Blast Pit and On A Rail are in and working. Changes have been made to many maps to improve their playability in co-op (more monsters/monster types, etc). You can expect this update to be released pretty soon... this week's almost over, after all.

Creepsworld Map Pack

This map pack is based on Creepsworld SvenCo-op's Top 50 Maps project, and accordingly is dedicated to the memory of Creepsworld, which closed its doors a few days ago. Included are all the Top 50 maps that were not already bundled with the mod installer or in other official packs... several maps have been updated especially for the map pack.

On that subject: Many thanks to Creeping Death and the rest of the Creepsworld staff for all the time and effort they put into helping us and the SvenCo-op community!!! Great job on keeping it running for so long.

Back on the subject of new content:

SvenCo-op 2.1 Map Pack

A compilation of all the other great maps that have been made recently, but didn't end up mentioned in Creepsworld's article. Note to mappers: We're currently sorting Map Showcase selecting finished levels to be included, so if you're working on a map that's almost complete or you've been thinking of adding some extra polish to your finished map, now would be a good time to see to it.

SvenCo-op 2.1 Linux Server

As well as generally allowing you to run a SvenCo-op server under Linux, this release will include the latest donor list, and possibly some other server-side fixes and improvements.

Uncertain: SvenCo-op 2.1 Point Release

We're thinking of releasing a small (Windows) server-side patch with a few fixes and minor improvements, to tide people over 'til 2.5 is released. The latest donor list would also be included. The fixes/improvements would be the same as in the Linux server version.

And there's a secret thing or two that we're planning... you'll just have to wait and see, though. Nothing huge like 2.5 being released, by the way, so don't expect too much :).

As this week's content, we have a full list of the new features, bug fixes and changes that have been implemented in SvenCo-op 2.5 so far. Note that this is not a final changes list... there's a lot more that we're still working on. Also note that partially-complete features are not listed.

Features
- Opposing Force Grunts added, including Torch (explodes when fuel canisters damaged), Medic (heals players and allied humans), SAW, and Normal grunt types. Friendly and Hostile versions of each type are available
- Shock Trooper Spore Grenade added
- Added Black Ops Osprey monster
- New entity: env_spritetrain
- Free Roaming option for mappers - Monsters can roam a level that has info_nodes
- Friendly monsters can follow players in the same manner as Barneys/scientists
- Blood effects are now client-side
- "All Players" option for trigger_camera added (allows in-game cut scenes)

AI/Monster Changes
- Improved movement for monsters regarding dynamic entities blocking paths and their movement goal. Monsters will tend to move without trouble in packs
- Improved non-node_graph path finding
- Fixed bug with monsters pausing for a few seconds after being spawned from monstermakers/squadmakers
- Monsters now target the Osprey Helicopter at either one of its engines.
- Monsters now duck and cover from Rockets.
- Some monsters can use func_tanks (controllable turrets) in the same way as players.
- Monsters will now attack enemy barnacles that have prey
- Fixed issue with Sniping Male Assassins reloading if schedule failed
- Fixed poor enemy communication for monsters with squad members and squad leaders
- Fixed bug with newer talk monsters (Otis) not being able to have a use/un-use sentence from Worldcraft.
- Updated Ichthyosaur AI, monster is more lethal and goes into idle mode again after killing
- Slightly increased damage resistance for Shocktroopers and Pitdrones
- Monsters pausing from a constant stream of damage fixed
- Increased pitch for Pitdrone's spike hit sound to match Opposing Force
- Fixed TakeDamage issue with Male Assassins
- Fixed various grunt_repel types not becoming a player ally
- Updated Grunt AI concerning flying monsters
- Fixed problem with friendly Pitdrones attacking friendly Shock Roaches
- Fixed inability to set custom health for Shocktroopers, Pitdrones, or Shockroaches
- Fixed bullet shell ejection point for human grunts, robot grunts, male assassins
- Fixed freeze bug with grunts after they dropped a grenade to run to cover
- Fixed model replacement bug with collision boxes for the Ichthyosaur
- Fixed NPC "Hello" actions
- Pause issue with monsters after running to a scripted_sequence fixed
- Fixed problem with turrets and apaches not triggering their trigger targets
- Short game freeze for servers with Babygargs fixed

General Changes

- "No Reset Entity" option added to scripted_sequence
- Bug with node graph generation fixed. Node graph file sizes can be reduced quite a bit, as well as greatly improved monster navigation as a benefit
- Impulse commands re-added for developers -- cheats must be On and maxplayers must be 2
- Impulse 50 toggles HUD on/off when cheats are on (good for screenshots).
- Fixed Longjump animation not being played by players that perform a Longjump
- Fixed Treadwater animation not being played when in water and not moving
- Improved transition with water and land animations
- Fixed client-side gib spawn location
- Fixed Error in FGD file concerning model fields and certain cycler/monster entities
- Fixed ability to kill monsters in scripted_sequences even if "No Interruptions" was checked in WC
- Fixed bug with scripted_sequences and monstermakers. Monsters would stop spawning if killed in a scripted_sequence (HL bug)
- "Flatline" sound on death is stopped after respawning
- Hud properly outputs health, armor, and ammo values. (No 250 limit)
- Fixed problem with monstermakers/squadmakers having monsters spawn clumped together, when the frequency was set to 0 in Worldcraft
- Fixed inability to model-replace rocket launchers
- Set tripmines will now use their custom model counterpart

Weapon Changes
- Added idle animations for Wrench
- Improved animation transitions for Uzi
- Slightly increased Uzi deploy/reload speed.

Bug Fixes
- Fixed crash bug concerning player collisions
- Fixed crash bug with monster relationships
- Fixed crash bug with func_breakables triggering game_texts
- Fixed bug with deaths not counting when killing self
- Fixed crash bug with player camera when changing to a new map and third-person was still on
- Fixed crash bug that occurred with func_tank classes that are set to kill enemies