new glacius custom maps server

[adminless]

I don't think team switching is gonna do any better but very likely the opposite. we all know, as it has been more than proven already, that people will actively do anything they possibly can to entirely destroy the team balance altogether in their favor, at all given times. stuff like picking up items or even just scoring is plain retarded for plenty of players, all that they ever look forward is to break the team balance in their favor as much as possible. yes, think that even if you, as well as most of the guys that were there, were to respect the balance and do a fair use of team switching, there are no guarantees that someone else that might come will. teams aren't locked for a whim or for a "suspicion", they are for a very real reason, people exploit them big time.

as for the grenades, we already discussed that long enough, people overused them/exploited them big time too. game data analysis showed up that eight grenades per spawn is a fair amount for a secondary/back up weapon use. people shouldn't definitively rely on grenades as their primary weapon of choice, that's not the way this is meant to be played and that ruins the game.

I know, unfortunately 6++, 7++ or overkill for example aren't suitable maps (too big) for the small 2vs2/3vs3 games that happened yesterday. yes, that unfortunately leaves the rotation a bit short on low loads which may lead to some repetition. anyways voting isn't really going to "fix" that as I understand that you don't want voting to load 6++ for a 2vs2 so may be in a different order but you'll pretty much end up with the same map repetition as the map options will be the same. I believe that what I can really do about it instead is drop a few more maps, both small and big to add a bit more variety. I'll probably look forward into that in these days.

[...jutuli...]

OK, I know you opinion for voting and understand that. So, some more maps would be also great solution. Anyway it is no rush on it at all, we play there on Sundays so far, but still hope more ppl will try this server more frequently. This corona situation make both main servers almost full, so some ppl can come to Glacius sometimes.

[adminless]

I know the situation is critical just exactly as I had expected it to be right here about a month ago. as we speak both servers are as full as it gets, they've been doing like half a thousand unique players per day and they even went as far as having full waiting queues in the order of hours. meanwhile glacius even struggles to make some small team games happening for a hour on meeting days as its peak. not trying to be that hater yet once again, but it's not even funny if it would be a joke, where the fuck is all that people that cried for that server 24/7 for ages now???

anyways I'm not gonna bitch about that again but yes I fully agree with you, people should visit glacius more as now there's clearly enough players to make it work (semi) regularly, at least, in the low/mid load ranges. btw there's also another two free servers hosted here that may be it could interest some of you in case the main ones are completely wasted. they aren't the same thing as this but I think that they are also of good quality. you should probably check also the servers tab for them. the urbanterror one is starting to really hit off recently making like a another well over hundred unique players a day and the openarena one is probably not as busy but it's just a normal CTF server and openarena itself it's just a opensource (meaning free) Quake III Arena clone. it should really interest to people around here looking for some fast and simple CTF, definitively worth checking it out. you have full download for both free games on the files tab as usual in case someone wanna try them.

as for the maps I know, don't worry I think that if nothing that requires immediate attention happens today I should probably post here about them today or tomorrow.

[adminless]

ok done, just finished adding a few customs maps now. I finally dropped the all time classics, hub3tourney1 and mrcq3t4, and the quakelive favorites, hektik_b3 and focal_p132, that I guess that are probably the ones that everybody was looking for. in addition, to also complete a bit the server top (imaginary) loads I also dropped ospdm1 and ospdm2 (no extra download required they are already contained on the osp mappack). with these changes I believe that now the rotation should be rich enough almost at any load and at least of comparable quality with the "mainstream" one, so I repeat once again, when this server fails miserably altogether there's absolutely not even a single excuse whatsoever other than showing off yet another time that custom maps servers never really worked out, don't work out and neither they will, ever.

as usual, updated the respective maps poll (with the full rotation) as well as the files page with the respective downloads accordingly, so please those that may be missing some of the "new" maps check it out and get what you need. the regular glacius map package has also been updated accordingly so new people will already get the updated map pool. well, that's it by now, it may be possible that if time prove me wrong and this server finally end up doing it as a mainstream server I may drop a few more maps for top loads (ex. bring back poq3dm5). at low/mid loads (which is the realistic expectation at the very best) I feel like now there should be more than enough variety (as well as quality).

[PacMan]

Thanks admin

Ps the server name might do the trick maybe tweak it to get players on , main issue might be having to download map pack , took me a few weeks lol

Then being old couldn't remember where to put them hahaha

[Dr.GreenThumb]

Yes, like alyeti said, thanks very much for these updates!

As you can see I do what I can to popularize the new server ...and I agree with you that the interest should be higher based on how many threads you have here on the forum about begging for new maps But during my spam runs to advertise the new server I am generally only able to reach the "regulars" crowd, not the newbies nor the random joiners.

Honestly - and I know you have repeatedly said this is a security risk - my own opinion is that without auto-downloading the maps there is little chance of making a regular crowd for Glacius. I work in the field so I fully understand the security risk involved - but on the other hand (and I'm pretty sure I speak for most players here) we FULLY trust you and would never think that you'd exploit the uncontrolled auto-download from any of your servers. I understand there is still a risk of someone else getting into the servers and pushing down code, but that risk we take with each server we connect to with this 20yo game.

With that said though, I am convinced that it's the auto-download that allowed servers with custom maps in the early 2000s to take off. Sure, we saved a ton of mappacks to the base folder manually back then as well, but I recall servers that I've played on that would always push down new maps and I thought that was really neat how that was done (not understanding that those admins could have pushed any code they wanted ). But as a newbie that auto-download feature was amazing, to be able to get into the non-vanilla servers.

I am not asking for auto-download to be enabled as I know you won't ...all I'm trying to say is that there is a disconnection between random joiners and this forum to even get the right information about Glacius, so the type of organic growth a classic map server sees is difficult (if not impossible) to mirror. The few Sunday evenings I (and ..jutuli..) join the classic servers and spam players in the console with "come play" messages reaches long time players to a degree, but the "random joiners" during the week who would otherwise be happy to play on Glacius (outside my spam days/hours) do not have an easy way to find out about the Glacius map info and the forum in general. Not to mention language barriers...

Just my two cents

[Dr.GreenThumb]

I've never tried these but will check them out!
Thanks!

btw there's also another two free servers hosted here that may be it could interest some of you in case the main ones are completely wasted. they aren't the same thing as this but I think that they are also of good quality. you should probably check also the servers tab for them. the urbanterror one is starting to really hit off recently making like a another well over hundred unique players a day and the openarena one is probably not as busy but it's just a normal CTF server and openarena itself it's just a opensource (meaning free) Quake III Arena clone. it should really interest to people around here looking for some fast and simple CTF, definitively worth checking it out. you have full download for both free games on the files tab as usual in case someone wanna try them.

[adminless]

I know, that's for the most part what I've been talking about all these years that people came to me asking for custom maps, they do not work on real life public servers. for the rest, well the thing goes beyond just the "security"/technical thing (which, yes of course, it's probably the main factor but hey then what about dm12 for example? you know what I'm talking about, they do have it yet each time it loads at least half the room runs away so there's even more than just the "obvious") but I believe that it's not worth to keep arguing the same stuff over and over to no end. I appreciate you and I don't mean to be rude with you guys, but hey at the end of the day, it's neither my fault nor my problem, you know what I'm saying. I'm only responsible here for provide reliable quality servers that do work 24/7 and make the needed resources/end user support available. if I deliver two top quality servers and one makes 417 unique players while the other just 5 (come on what a total joke even the duels one made 63) on a regular day is their fault, not mine. you clearly can't put the blame for that mess on me. I've already done more than enough about this and I'm not gonna go any further trying to "trick"/"mislead" (ex. ip/name switching) or just promote people into a server that is simply not doing it at all for them.

for the rest, as usual, if there's any issue with the server or anything else just let me know and I'll look into it. by now, for the use that is gonna really get, with these "new" map additions it should be done. in addition at the moment I'm finally starting with some client package work which will include the maps, not that I expect that to make any significant difference, but well I hope I can get it within this week more or less and we'll see if it improves this server performance a bit.

[Dr.GreenThumb]

Yeah I hear ya, dm12 is classic yet unpopular by the crowds. I guess it boils down to what you said - some maps are simply better suited for unfreeze, regardless of them being classic or not.

I've been thinking the other day why the push for custom maps by so many - then no actual effort spent playing on them. I'm wondering if human psychology is at play here, in a sense that many of us recall playing on a specific custom map and having a blast in the 2000s. So, when we get bored with the same-old same-old, we ask for the same maps assuming it will be the same fun as in the past, even if we've never played unfreeze on it specifically... and in reality we can't make the smallest effort (to download the silver-plate served map-pack and connect to the custom server). I guess we are a spoiled and lazy generation

But yeah, in all seriousness I do see the same type of behavior at work with highly educated adults

[PacMan]

Hey admin I think you should spare us 5mins on glacius Sundays so we can atleast shoot you? Or get shot

[Dr.GreenThumb]

I was thinking - the answer is probably no but I'll ask. I keep seeing players trying to join Glacius, then immediately disconnect - I suspect they don't have the maps. Is there any way for the server to detect the joiner doesn't have the map and to put something like a MOTD that says "download the maps from ftp:..." ...or is there no way to do that cause they just get kicked if there is no matching map?

[adminless]

not possible as all the server does is advertise the map running and has no knowledge of what files the client has until it loads them and connect (which break if such files doesn't exist for the client obviously). that being said, what is possible is display such a message to everybody regardless of which files they have before acknowledging the connection for some seconds. might consider that, though don't get your hopes high because very likely the few that may follow later won't know how to install them.

[Dr.GreenThumb]

Nice on having some option! ...Makes sense and I agree with not knowing how to install. But some will know how, and for them they would just need the download location information. Maybe worth a test period at least? ..you'll be able to see from the logs if anyone at all bothers to grab the mappack after trying to connect and being dropped out. If it's not a lot of effort...but your decision of course!

[Dr.GreenThumb]

Tonight was awesome, we had a good turnout. Really nice rounds and lots of fun.

I think you packing the maps with the new client helped a ton. It's much easier to direct those who want to join to just go get the new client than "save the maps..." ..so thanks for that!

I'll mention that I've seen about 4-5 joiners who came and got disconnected immediately, I suspect they have an older client but definitely missing the maps. I'm wondering that now with the new client pack, if they would get that "greeting for all" on connection that you've mentioned pointing to the new client, that would kill two birds with one stone

[adminless]

yes, I know, some things take time, you can not expect to get a normal server popular out of nowhere just like that let alone one that run on custom maps. so, yes, yesterday session was good, the servers finally reach fifties for the first time I think and glacius definitively helped alleviate pressure on the other full servers join queues so people could get join slots more comfortably. like I said, let's see if it can keep up the momentum because it really seems needed.

and yes I also know that I missed to add that join message but I prefer to finish with the client thing first (I still have to update the documentation post and review a few other things) since as you can see it has a bigger impact than a connection message. I hope I'll probably look into that in the next days.