Hey. I was wondering, not that i'm trying it or anything, but for refrence, if this is possible:

Say you had like a Map. But, when the Game starts, any players that were already in the game would go through a cutscene. It can't be skipped. The idea is that its a Pelican coming down, and hovering at the base where the soldiers climb out, And the game starts.

It would need to be unskippable, so that nobody gets an unfair advantage. If there aren't enough members on the team, it would look weird, but whatever. I just want the map to load and the Blue team to see one video and the Red to see another. If they have to watch the same video, i suppose thats okay. I can show one team then the other.

The idea is it plays when the map loads, and new players in the middle of the game don't see it. If there are some voice files i could rip, i suppose that would add to the effect, but otherwise it would not have voice, i suppose. Just normal backgrounds and the sound of the Dropship Jets.

I suppose it could be a shot from the side, where an unspecified "sergeant" steps out for one team with no other soldiers in the shot. He has his rifle rested on his sholder and he places it in his hand (much like the Master Cheif does alot in the original Halo).

The other team shows their leader jump off of the turret in back, and pull the same type of gun off of his back and cock the bolt. This prevents a repetitiveness.

I am not making maps, but if i do this would be a nice effect, and anyone else could technically also use it. And basically i just want to know whats possible and what isn't...

Hmmm That sounds like a Great Idea! But I don't know but I am pretty sure that its possible. Somebody else would know but if you can get it to work release the map plain with the cut scene So others can use it Great Idea! Good Luck



-Pakar45

Like i said, i don't make maps. At this point in time, i don't make anything. But i scheme, hope, and frequently design. Though thats about it.

Well, on the other hand. Thanks for the motivational boost.

It's a great idea, but I'd say it's impossible in multiplayer. The main obstacles are how to synchronize a scripted pelican, and even if that is accomplished, how to synchronize getting all the players loaded into the pelican.

Trust me, judging by tests I've done with loading and unloading bipeds and players into vehicles and watching how it synchronizes on client-side ... well, it doesn't. And it's not the kind of thing that can be scripted to synchronize, since vehicles can only be referred to by scripts on the server side.

I have two computers in my house. On one of them, I host a LAN game, and on the other, I join that game. Then, staying on the client game, I use "rcon" to control the hosted game on the other computer which has devmode on. I can then mess with devmode on the server side in any way I want, and see how the client-side synchronizes it instantly. That's how I'm sure of what I'm saying.

So, no, it's not possible.
Edited by Me KS on Oct 27, 2008 at 05:58 PM

I don't want anything to sync complexly.

What i want is for, when the game starts, everyone ALREADY in the game goes into a cutscene mode that can't be skipped, and basically just see a video. If it has to be real, i suppose it could be scenery scripted to move in time, right?

I just want them to all see the cool entry video, then the game actually starts. they are in their spawn positions with no trace of the pelican or respective team sergeants. Which is just a visual thing, and sergeant is the word used to represent the respective team "representitive" in the cutscene.

Like i said, the players have no actual interaction with it. But it can't be skipped, and players coming in in the middle of the game shouldn't see this. It would work good on large maps, where in terms of background story there wouldn't be a real conflict with two opposing aircraft dropping off two opposing teams at their respective bases.

Its not something i plan on doing, because i am not making a map. But i would like to know if it is possible.

But the vehicle animation won't sync or something. and the command is
vehicle_load_magic (unit (list_get (players) 0))

Even if you just want to use the pelican alone without the players in it, it still won't sync. I've never tried seeing if recorded animations can sync online, so I'm not sure, but I doubt they would. I know for a fact the second method of using AI in the pelican with command lists definitely would not sync. With an AI or biped in a vehicle, the vehicle position (position, not state, as in no acceleration or anything inside it) is updated to the clients only every minute or so.

The video would look like a hovering pelican lagging to different points every minute. Not very appealing, and no way to fix it since client-side games can't refer to server-side vehicles in scripts.

So, again, it's just not possible. This would be perfectly possible in a single player map though, but Halo's net code is the barrier for multiplayer.
Edited by Me KS on Oct 28, 2008 at 07:34 PM

If you force it on all players at the same time only at the begenning, and its just a video, wouldn't that work?

Beign a staggered start wouldn't matter. Just so noone gets a serious advantage.

Halo can't play videos, it has to use the game engine for the cinematic effect. It's all in-game. And as far as in-game goes, it just won't work.

Are you absolutely sure? Precisely why WON'T it work?

The exact reason it won't work is because of the internet syncing issues with the pelican. The pelican's state and position isn't synced to any other players correctly if the pelican is controlled by a biped (AI or not, it's still a biped) which it needs to be in order for it to be piloted by a command list. However, I'm not sure about recorded animations and whether or not they sync, so there may be hope there. But I doubt it, simply because recorded animations are meant for single player only, like AI are.

Meaning that I'm not absolutely sure, but I'm pretty sure. There's two options that might work:

1. If recorded animations do somehow sync, then there you go.
2. I literally just thought of something that might make it irrelevant whether the pelican syncs or not. In fact, I think your solution is here.

What can be done is instead of depending on the server-side pelican to sync properly, every instance of the game can just spawn their own pelican on the client side at the same time. Then, each instance of the pelican (each player only sees their own) can be controlled by scripts locally to either load it with an AI and run a command list or use a recorded animation.

This way, every game has their own pelican doing the exact same thing as everyone else's pelican. So even though they're individual pelicans, they are doing the same thing at the same time.

If you're completely lost tell me. xD

So it could work.

you do realize that the pelican does not have to move, right? just float and look real. A player, i would like, would be seen getting off of a turret. But he doesn't actually have to be on a turret.

So couldn't it, like you said, be multiple instances of something, as scenery?

Plus, how do add effects such as fade-ins, fade-outs, and whiteflash transitions?