Spawntime annunciation?

(IPvD) #1

In RtCW, I remember spawn time annoucer scripts that would spit out warnings for the enemy spawns (like ‘10 seconds to allied spawn’ at ten seconds to enemy respawn wave). They were fully automated and did not interfere with regular play. I never understood exactly how those worked in the first place, and my attempt to track it down has come up fruitless. What was that, and is it possible in ET?

(puubert) #2

I’ve watched a demo of a match where one team had something of the sorts. It posted a message saying “Enemy spawn at 40/10” for example, the numbers being the seconds. So I guess they are around, but I can’t help you find them.

(Majin) #3

There are fairly legal manual chat binds you can use, but what you are talking about is a hack, and cheating sucks.

(IPvD) #4

no, those are a dime a dozen. I’m talking about a script that actually counted down to when the enemy spawns by say_team’ing the amount of time remaining. When the enemy spawns, it actually say_teams “Enemy spawned” or something to the effect. However, the player from whom the say_teams are coming can still play (i.e. this isn’t some jiggery combination of com_maxfps and waits). This may not be a client-side script at all, since I saw it only in OSP matches. I’m just wondering if anyone actually knows what this is.

(IPvD) #5

p.s. NOT A HACK, whatever it was was league-authorized.

(kotkis) #6

There are some ‘extended’ spawntimers that track the enemy spawn by sniffing the packets ET sends or by watching the FPS-numbers (there will be a noticable drop when the enemy spawns). However these timers are quite rare and forbidden by most rules.

There are also these script-timers that mostly legal to use. For a script-timer you need to enter the enemy spawn time and then it’ll notice you and your team when you press a button. These are legal because you need to first see what time the enemy spawns. It’s also quite easy to calculate the spawn times in your own head and tell about it to your own team using a voice communications software (this one for clan games) or team chat. For example if you see someone saying “02/32” it usually means that the enemy is going to spawn at X:32 and X:02.

Tracking spawntimes is a must for clan games. They are huge part of the tactics. Usually if you know you can get an enemy with a grenade you time the grenade so that the enemy gets full spawn (30 or 20 secs depending on the map) and then you attack. The more enemies you get to full spawn the more time you’ve to take out the other enemies and complete the objective. Spawntimes are also used for spawnraping which is also a big part of the tactics. Many clans have complicated spawnraping tax that include all from grenades to airstrikes and panzerfausts.

(IPvD) #7

I found an example, but it’s extremely inaccessible. I still have a movie of clan amish that I got off own-age.com, where Seed uses exactly what I’m describing, also running around and panzering people like nuts. Somehow i don’t think they would include their "hack"s in their movie :frowning:

If you actually want to download 300 MB (it’s still an excellent RtCW film as RtCW movies go, which is why i kept it :)): http://www.own-age.com/vids/mirrors.aspx?id=750&dlmirror=1743

(kotkis) #8

For Europeans a great mirror by sweRtCW.com:
http://www.swertcw.com/default.php?c=download&id=430

I’ve seen the movie too and I know what you’re talking about. But afaik that kind of script is not possible without the packet sniffing or fps counting. It might be that the leagues / cups Amish plays on have legalized these extended timers (one good reason for doing this might be because it’s veeeery hard to control who uses and who doesn’t use a timer).

(IPvD) #9

Thank you for explaining that!

One more question and I’ll be quiet:
So, I understand that the script in the video was probably of the extended (and normally disallowed) type. However, is there a legal one which can echo dynamic messages (such as ‘10 seconds to spawn!’), or do they simply echo the fixed spawn time (such as ‘allies spawn @ 10/40’)?

Thanks again for explaining thus far :drink:

(Kendle) #10

This discussion was had not so long ago. There are both scripts that will do what you’re talking about and external programs that squirt text into ET. The one often mentioned is called Heron. I’m sure if you do a search you can find it.

As for their legality, I was always under the impression that any Clan worth their salt used spawntimers in Clan wars, although I suspect they use the script variety as most leagues / ladders state that using external programs is forbidden.

Using them on publics would definately be lame though, IMO.

(ExP|Maximus191) #11

Heron for E.t doesn’t work atm ,it’s bugged to hell and back :frowning:

/me gets out meh egg timer \o/

(Majin) #12

What kind of sucky league would allow the use of an active cheat program =/

(pgh) #13

Hrms, its not a cheat at all tbh. It was like powerup timers from Q3 and it turned out having something of the sort in real time was such a good idea they implemented the ‘coach’ feature into osp. This means a clan can have a member as a ‘coach’ who specs the team and game and can tell his team when things are coming back, whos at what and whats going on.

For RTCW and the spawn timers is a similar idea, but tbh, I just count and get an estimate… I have that Heron for ET somewhere, tried it out and didnt like it but apparently it was a decent program for those who got it running… And, if someone is sad enough to use a timer just to camp a spawn for Panzer Shots/Arty Kills then they shouldnt be playing.

(IPvD) #14

I can see how heron would prove useful in competitive situations, although I agree the author has made the thing a bit shady (such as when it unregisters several windows .OCXs and re-registers them to itself during install :eek3:). I won’t debate it though, I’m sure you all bring good points from your experience.

For my fellow newbies who may one day stumble across this thread, here is a nice link where a BooZZe member himself lays out some spawntimers: http://www.own-age.com/vids/mirrors.aspx?id=750&dlmirror=1743
rock on fellow newbies!

BTW Kotkis, i watched Free Fall over and over. ULTRABUNNY!

(/\ndy) #15

you can often work it out yourself! doesn’t take a genius to work out spawn times!

(pgh) #16

Another Scot. ^^

(lennyballa) #17

Doh axis respawn usually at every half of a minute, like 1:30 and 2:00

(pgh) #18

It all depends on whats going on and when things happen.

(highboy) #19

It would be cheating On Clanbase, since Hero interacts with the game by inserting text INTO the game.

Rules from ClanBase
Cheating and anti-cheating
ClanBase’s cheating and abuse policy applies to this ladder.

Programs that do not interact with the game in any way are allowed, even if they can be used and operated simultaneously with the game. Voice communication programs are examples of such programs.

It is not allowed to take advantage of or abuse bugs. Any kind of bug abuse is considered cheating and will lead to a forfeit loss.

All programs or files, be they changed game files or new files, that change the game or add to its functionality, or that interact with the game in any way, are strictly forbidden. Modified versions of the game’s resource files are always forbidden, regardless of what they do. The use of any forbidden program or file by any clan member during a match leads to a forfeit loss at least, and to a removal and ban from ClanBase in bad cases.

(lennyballa) #20

Jep 100% agree, this may not be used in any competition, since YOU know when enemy spawns, but they don’t know when you spawn, so it’s gives you an advantage which can be very usefull, like when you walljumped on oasis, and wait with planting after they just spawned. All those tiny things can lead to victory