Kreedz Climbing
Workshop tools release coming soon!
The Workshop tools are almost ready for a release to everyone! With this tool you'll be able to upload and update your own maps on the Workshop!
I'd like to say a big thank you to /_-ӉλƦđƇθɾΣɛΣ!??, pacMan and Twizek for their awesome help in testing the tool during this alpha state. We found a lot of issues - map corruptions, crashes, descriptions being lost, all thing that would have been extremely frustrating for you to have to deal with!
There's been a lot of views and subscriptions so far on the maps they have kindly uploaded. Maps are the lifeblood of KZ, and I dearly hope everyone greatly enjoys the possibilities the Workshop offers! Thank you very much for your patience and indulgence during this time!
We're that much closer ːsteamhappyː
Server issues resolved!
In the previous update to Kreedz Climbing, the game's Steamworks implementation was updated to the newest version - this was necessary to allow the Workshop's Playtime Tracking feature to work. This involves updating the game's steam_api dll.
Unfortunately I don't have access to the source code of srcds.exe (the dedicated server executable), so I couldn't update it's usage of Steamworks. The result is that the new steam_api dll was not compatible and causing the server to be unable to use Steam features (causing it to be forced into LAN mode).
The solution was that now the game technically uses two versions of Steamworks at once - the server uses the old version and the client uses the newer one. This is extremely weird but also unfortunately necessary.
You might be wondering how this issue got into a live patch - all of Kreedz Climbing's updates are thoroughly tested on both the game and the dedicated server, however things were a bit weird here - I test these updates on my own computer which has Steam installed. If Steam is installed on a server machine, the server connects to that instead of using it's local copy. The local copy wasn't compatible with the steam_api dll update, but Steam itself was! That's why the dedicated server works for me, but didn't work for many standalone server machines.
And that's why most of the servers weren't working! And that's the weird solution that fixed it. A big thank you to Zord for bringing this to my attention, and I'd like to remind everyone that if you ever have any issues, let me know on the forum and I'll do my best to fix it!
Happy climbing!
Quick update on the servers
I'm working on the issue and apologise for the inconvenience!
Update for Kreedz Climbing released
Please note that when a patch is released, the currently running servers will be out of date and won't show up on your server browser anymore. Once they update they will appear again!
Additions:
- The Workshop now supports Playtime Tracking! Now when you play a Workshop map, Steam will record it as played so you can easily find it again, even if you aren't subscribed. You can also sort and view Workshop maps now based on playtime!
- The Workshop map cache is now cleaned up on game exit to prevent excessive storage space wasting.
- The trigger_bhop_teleport entity now supports a 3rd multi-bhop option, preventing players from bhopping the entire trigger more than once.
Bug fixes:
- A first time pass at fixing the bug that caused you to be flung into the air when doubleducking on a physics object. Please let us know if it's not entirely fixed!
- Fixed a bug with the trigger_bhop_teleport entity that made kz_bhop_angkor's "crypt" minimap impossible.
Okay... So, this is embarassing... There's been a lot of questions floating around regarding the infamous jump-up bhop at the start of bhop_angkor's crypt minimap. In the older versions of Kreedz Climbing (back when it was a mod), this minimap was very much possible and seems to have become a lot harder once we made it to Steam. The truth is, there's actually been a bug introduced in the Steam version of the game that made this jump up and thus the minimap impossible to complete. I know some of us have spent a lot of time trying to beat this minimap (that used to be possible), only to find out it's literally not anymore. If it makes you feel better, I feel really bad about it! Sorry...
That's it for today's update! The workshop seems to be going great so far! Please remember to let us know if you encounter any difficulties. The workshop tool is still being worked on, in the mean time if you have a finished map or maps you'd like to upload, please let us know on the forum and we'll get you set up!
Finally, we're aware there's an issue with uploading additional preview pictures for workshop items, this seems to be an issue on Valve's side and we're getting in touch with them to sort it.
Happy climbing!
Workshop Alpha is finally here!
Image very kindly contributed by pivotman319!
Hello Climbers!
It's finally happened... the Workshop is here! It's currently in it's most basic and useable form, and now we can continue working on it with it in a playable state!
The Workshop is currently for maps only - maps are the lifeblood of KZ, and with easy access (and updating!) available to mappers, we can finally see a step forward in Kreedz Climbing's development!
Here's a quick primer of what the Workshop can do right now:
- Players can subscribe to items, and automatically download the map as well as updates if the mapper decides to upload them.
- Joining a server running a Workshop map will download from the Workshop instead of the server!
- Workshop pages offer comments and stats to uploaders, one day allowing a better understanding and communication with content creators!
Currently all interaction with the Workshop is done outside the game - you must quit Kreedz Climbing and use Steam to manage your subscriptions. We intend to improve on this later. Once you subscribe to an item, you'll find it ingame as "mapname.ugc[numbers]" - This will be in the console's map feature, as well as the Create Server dialog at the bottom.
Servers cannot subscribe to items through the Workshop, they can add Workshop items to their maplist to use them that way! Please see the Workshop Guide for more information.
Although a Workshop is a pretty standard feature in most games, this is a big step forward for us, and a herald for improvements to come! Thank you very much for your patience and encouragement in helping us reach this stage. We couldn't have done it without you!
During this initial alpha phase the uploader tool is still private. This is to make sure that if a critical issue is found, there won't be a lot of broken maps on that need to be updated / removed. If you have maps you'd like to upload to the Workshop and want to contribute, please let me know in this thread and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!
Also released in this update are a few improvements to the game:
- Fixed a bug where using checkpoints would cause you to lose your bhop/surf settings.
- Added an alternative flashlight effect option (kz_cl_flashlight_alternative), which mimics the flashlight from Half-Life. Also in the advanced options!
- Map configs now only allow the setting of surf, bhop and autobhop mode, and ignore all other commands.
Kreedz Climbing, back when it was just a mod, came with the idea of "map configs" (i.e. cfg/kz_mymap.cfg) which allowed you to specify what commands the server should execute when the map starts. This was mainly used to set surf mode and bhop mode, but also basically allowed any console command to be run. With the advent of the workshop and transparancy with files due to embedding, this now represents a risk to players and servers, and has severely sanitised. Mappers are strongly recommended to use the trigger_player_movement_attributes entity to set surf/bhop mode and not use map configs. Thank you!
Two new forums have been added, one for the Workshop and one for the Workshop tools. If you encounter any issues or have questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to make a post there.
Finally, I'd like to personally thank everyone who's helped me test up to this point, the mappers who kindly provided the initial maps for the Workshop, and pivotman319 for the awesome image he made to commemorate this occasion!
That's it for now! We hope you have lots of fun and ask you to have patience, it's our first ever Workshop! ːsteamhappyː
Another update on the Workshop
Thanks for being patient :)
Workshop Alpha Incoming!
We've been waiting a very long time, and now it's finally happening - the Workshop is near to an alpha test!
With the majority of the infrastructure now in place, final testing is going on. The good news is that you can help!
Rather than keep the Workshop held up in development for any longer, I've decided to release it soon as a massive alpha test to everyone. You'll be able to download maps from the Workshop and servers will be able to host them!
For the sake of controlled testing however, only certain users will have access to the uploading tools for now. This is to keep the Workshop a controlled environment while we work out the issues!
Thank you very much for your patience up to this point. I know some of you thought it would never happen, but conviction and confidence of Kreedz Climbing's players is what motivates us to continue. We wouldn't be here without you!
Stay tuned for updates! ːsteamhappyː
Kreedz Climbing - It's still alive! + Development strategy and the workshop!
It's been a very long time since any sort of update to Kreedz Climbing... I've been very very busy in real life, and also working on the workshop!
To start, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who plays Kreedz Climbing despite the lack of development - The dedicated and loving players who keep this game alive are what motivates me to keep going!
Another thank you definitely needs to go out to the communities running the servers - in no particular order - Ethereal-Movement, Xtreme-Jumps, KZ-Rush and the Surf Gateway, along with everyone else who hosts a server. Without you, there would be nowhere to play!
You're probably most wondering about the fabled Workshop and what's going on with it - Progress has been steady, and a lot of the core mechanics behind it are already in place. A workshop uploader tool exists, and successful downloads of maps have happened!
The workshop will allow players to upload their maps, and servers to easily download them, all with minimal effort! Adding a workshop map to your server will be as simple as adding it's ID number to your maplist, and the server will handle all downloading and updating as needed. When you join a server running a workshop map, you will download seamlessly. This eliminates the need for server fastdls for your maps!
Kreedz Climbing's workshop is initially envisioned to only accept maps (.bsp files). In order to use custom content in your maps, you'll have to embed it into the map (a tool will come with the workshop uploader to allow you to do this, an alternative is using VIDE or Pakrat). One of the best things that could happen to the game is easy access to custom maps and I'm very excited to be reporting on this!
On another topic, development strategies, before recently I had a different idea on how my contributions to the game should be released... Specifically I focused on completing features entirely and polishing before releasing it. This strategy did give quality content, but also had huge delays which were no fun for the game's playerbase - I've changed my mind now though, and I believe that releasing functional (but perhaps not so pretty) updates will allow us to see much faster progress on the game! Polishing and feature addition can happen incrementally.
So once the basic features of the Workshop are implemented, they will be released to be played around with, and we'll add onto them as we go. I think this will be a lot more fun than waiting around for perfection!
Again, thank you so much for your time as you play this game, we couldn't have gotten to where we are today without you.
Kreedz Climbing lives! ːsteamhappyː
Update for Kreedz Climbing released
Please note that when a patch is released, the currently running servers will be out of date and won't show up on your server browser anymore. Once they update they will appear again!
Changes:
- Altered the way LJ stats handles missing the landing block - Now the LJ stats will instantly calculate your jump distance once you fall under the Z level of your start point, instead of waiting for you to hit the ground. Hopefully it's finally working properly, thank you to everyone who keeps bringing this to our attention!
- Added the ability to move the climb timer around the screen:
kz_cl_hud_timer_xpos and kz_cl_hud_timer_ypos. - Added an option to disable the hook sounds of other players (kz_cl_hook_sounds_3p). Also in the advanced options.
- Added an option to disable the weapon sounds of other players (kz_cl_weapon_sounds_3p). Also in the advanced options.
- Updated the Russian translation with some missing strings. Thanks for the help!
Bug fixes:
- Re-wrote the way the art tool handles it's effects. This should fix numerous issues relating to the beam and halo when watching another player in normal gameplay or spectator mode.
Update for Kreedz Climbing released
Please note that when a patch is released, the currently running servers will be out of date and won't show up on your server browser anymore. Once they update they will appear again!
Changes:
- Added a new display for when other players finish a course - these will appear at the top left of the screen by default. Can be customised with the kz_cl_hud_coursecompletion_ console commands.
- Course completions are no longer displayed in the chatbox, but still appear in the console.
- Running through a Stats Readout powerup box (such as on kz_longjumps) now auto-activates / deactivates LJ stats.
- (Plugins) Added a field which shows which medal was awarded to player_stoptimer, player_stoptimer2 events in ModEvents.res .
Map Entities:
- Added a new option to trigger_push - Require player contact with surface.
An issues with pushes has been found where doubleducking in the right place can cause a player to pushed with significant, unintended force (usually in surf maps) - this option requires a player to be in contact with a surface (whether that be the ground or a surf) in order to be pushed.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed LJ stats showing an incorrect jump distance if you didn't land at the same height as the block you jumped from (the display turns red).
- Fixed an issue causing players in a 3 player / 4 player course to not receive the correct medals upon completion.