How To Actually Keep Tremulous Alive

[Roanoke]

This might be over the top, but you guys could set up a temporary wiki in which there would be an article for each individual thing you want in the manual (one for installation, one for the lcannon, one for the lasgun, etc. etc.). That way, anyone could easily contribute. Once the manual is written, the wiki has no point and it should be taken down.

On a side note, I like how nexuiz has an 'official unofficial nexuiz wiki' with lots of important and well-written info.

[Hendrich]

Yays for the sticky! I agree that this thread should stay stickied, because the positive and realistic ideas and concepts in this thread posted by the forum's many intelligent members showed what the future of Tremulous should reach for.

Lets salute to Tremulous, the best FPS/RTS/RPG* game on the net! 

*If you think about it, the obtaining of "credits/evos" and becoming stronger, and stages that relate to a team's "level" is a commonly used RPG element, but Tremulous alters that concept for the basis of it's gameplay, thus I consider Tremulous being an "RPG" of sorts.

[khalsa]

This might be over the top, but you guys could set up a temporary wiki in which there would be an article for each individual thing you want in the manual (one for installation, one for the lcannon, one for the lasgun, etc. etc.). That way, anyone could easily contribute. Once the manual is written, the wiki has no point and it should be taken down.

On a side note, I like how nexuiz has an 'official unofficial nexuiz wiki' with lots of important and well-written info.

This has allready been done for the "1.2" manual.

What player1 is talking about however is not for the manual :-)

Khalsa

[Roanoke]

Ah, so the 'newbies guide' is a separate entity?
Make a wiki for that too

[KamikOzzy]

If we do that we need a trem forums moderator in charge, or at least someone who cares, to oversee that we don't have anything stupid added (exploits, glitches, etc)

[mooseberry]

If we do that we need a trem forums moderator in charge, or at least someone who cares, to oversee that we don't have anything stupid added (exploits, glitches, etc)

Or possibly more harmful, incorrect information.

[player1]

I vote for someone responsible, who hangs around here a lot, wants to contribute, and can be trusted as far as near-total anonymity will allow. OP, I'm looking at either you or the poster who posted the post just above this post (that writer guy).

[KamikOzzy]

Can Lava do it?

[Roanoke]

He'd have great edit summaries.
"Removed **** written by someone who can't use google and is pooping out of his mouth."

[_Equilibrium_]

Is it possible for us to pick out which maps are extremely well done, then fix the trem download to include them as default maps when you download tremulous? This may not help current players, but new players will then have all those newer maps already.

[Lakitu7]

Well, including more maps is basically releasing a new version and is kind of a given if a new version were to actually happen.

[Hendrich]

Is it possible for us to pick out which maps are extremely well done, then fix the trem download to include them as default maps when you download tremulous? This may not help current players, but new players will then have all those newer maps already.

Well, including more maps is basically releasing a new version and is kind of a given if a new version were to actually happen.

I'm getting an idea..wait..no that was just me thinking about cake again. No wait, a poll that is made to ask the members of Tremulous to vote for what they think is good, balanced and fun maps that should be included in the new version of Tremulous. Its actually up to the devs to decide, but theres no reason to not make one if its going to be just suggestions made by the community. If noone is going to make the poll, I swear by the icing on the most vanilla filled cake that I will.

[_Equilibrium_]

Well, including more maps is basically releasing a new version and is kind of a given if a new version were to actually happen.

1.11 then. Could possibly have some bug fixes and new maps. Doesn't need much. Would hold off some bitching about 1.2 for a while too.

[khalsa]

Help with the wiki

Yes, your dreams have come true!

you guys have some lame dreams, seriously



Khalsa

[Undeference]

1.11 then.

Version numbers are usually sequential, so don't expect to see 1.11 before 1.2 :-)

[hymn]

Why not simply add a downloadable map pack to the main page instead? In itself it would save a lot of confusion, and it would be pretty easy.
Wepretty much simply need to have a poll which allows us to choose which FINISHED maps should be added, once its done, zip them up and host and voila, people can simply download that pack, which most servers could then run without fear of losing 90% of their player base. Said maps would probably also be added to 1.2(hell in fact if you already have chosen which maps you'll be putting in, why not simply zip them up now and host on the main download page?)

[_Equilibrium_]

1.11 then.

Version numbers are usually sequential, so don't expect to see 1.11 before 1.2 :-)

My mistake. 1.1.1 then.

[Paradox]

You mean like I already have been at the wiki...

[cactusfrog]

Everyone knows that people will eventually stop playing tremulous so the only way we can keep trem alive is to make the experense enjoyible for newbies. The changes can range from improving the manual, changing the armory menu and fixing all the bugs.

The manual is good at answering question on what the structures do but not very good at answering how to fix the large amount of errors newbies experience.

Code:

GLW_StartOpenGL() - could not load OpenGL subsystem

is one example of an extremely common error. I got this error from changing my screen resolution to high and then my tremulous crashed. I still liked tremulous and tried to uninstalling and reinstall but the uninstaller didn't delete my autogen so when i redonwloaded tremulous i had the same error. Then I didn't know about the tremulous forums so i searched through the manual looking for answers but found none. I gave up playing tremulous for a month and only started again when my friend told me to search for tremulous and delete everything that comes up. I did this reinstalled and i got it working but if it were not for my friend I would have never played tremulous again. There are many other questions newbies have like "whats GUID" or when i connect to a server it says "my client is out of date but i just donwloaded tremulous" and "how do i get weapons out of the magical green box". This info isn't available when you download tremulous and should be if you expect people to play it. We would have even more players if the link to this forums was posted in the manual that way people who had unanswered questions after reading the manual could come to this site. Another solution is if the manual was a link instead of a pdf so that we could continually update it. Simple changes like these will greatly increase tremulous' popularity.

Another necessary change is fixing all the glitches and stupid settings. I reinstalled tremulous and these are all the changes i had to make to play it and should be enabled by default.
1. download tremulous
2. (optional) download GUID
3. create shotcut of tremulous on my desktop because a lot of xp users don't know about all programs
4. Open tremulous and change sorce from local to internet
5. press get new list
6. join a server and try to read error message wile connecting but it is to fast
7. change name so that i can join a team
8. change lighting so that i can see
  >system
  > gfx software
9. Enable auto download
10. cg_lagometer 1
11. change mouse sensitivity
although a lot of these changes are personal preference its obvious that the way the controls are at default are stupid.  If newbies are going to play tremulous then they need to be able to connect to a server and see, simple yet disabled by default in tremulous.

[Amanieu]

More than 1 million downloads of Tremulous.
About 1000 active players. _{(Not sure about that number, may be a little more)}
Something is obviously wrong.

[Urcscumug]

With all due respect to the problems faced by newbies, perhaps Trem is not a "mainstream" game. A FPS/strategy hybrid may not be everybody's cup of tea. I don't know, I never played much before I stumbled across Trem. Are there other similar games out there enjoying more attention? What are they doing differently?

[Amanieu]

They have a server list that isn't empty on startup. I think this is the major problem with 1.1.

[{A}saxon]

get your facts straight gareth: lava wasn't banned, he deleted his own account.

really?? aw lava was a good mod

 Muhaha

[{A}saxon]

Trem won't die till the servers start to die out.
but The Wine-Bar will always be open! Noob friendly and proud of it.

[Bissig]

Trem devs don't like the internetz. They dream of the ol' days of LAN games only (no ping problems thar).

[mooseberry]

stuff

Actually one of the best posts I have ever seen from this guy. He makes some good points.

[temple]

Tremulous won't die.  This is just dumb.  Its like jazz or blues.  It has its own community and it fuels itself.  As long as people want an open source game that they can mod and as long people like ALIENS VS MARINES (which is forever), Tremulous will be around.  Tremulous is really a time capsule for 90's gaming, FPS games, and the Quake 3 engine.  You can't kill that. 

I think the peak of Tremulous has passed, I caught on to Tremulous a few years ago and there were more players.  But after 3+ years of playing (three fucking years), I still run into the same people. 

Personally, I wouldn't bother with 1.2.  IMO, it adds very little constructively, introduces a lot of undesirable effects, and ultimately is a drain on everyone's patience.  I would mod 1.1 Tremulous on to a newer engine and give this thing a whole new kick around the internet consciousness.  When another open source engine is available...

[1LordAnubis]

sauerbraten engine?

[KillerWhale]

sauerbraten engine?

The Sauerbraten engine may look impressive, but it is so riddled with bugs and inaccuracies that it is hardly realistic for an online game.

Simply, there is not a viable engine to switch to right now. XReal is unstable(as far as I know), and there haven't been any milestone ioquake releases. If anyone can correct me on this, that would be exciting.

As many others have said, I really agree that the main client download should be replaced with a newer one, with downloads on by default, etc.
I almost gave up on this game because of the empty server list issue, and I'm sure many have already. Combining the un-boxed sorting system with showing a server list without changing source would make the game more accessible for newbies.

I hope the devs really listen to the community about this, as regular updates, even if not giant, would allow us to spread the word around again.

Thanks for your time,
Whales

[Archangel]

there was a milestone ioq3 release not long ago. the thing is, trem already receives ioq3 svn merges every so often to start with.