HelpingHand

v1.7 by Patrick Freeman - a.k.a. "Mental"


This mutator will causes any 'losing' player to be 'helped' when they respawn,
according to how far they (or their team) are behind.
The 'help' is a better weapon and more health, speed, and strength.

It works in both team (CTF, DOM, Team DM) and non-team (DM and LMS) games.
* In a non-team game, the players score is used to determine if 'help' is to be given.
* In a team game the team score is used to determine the 'help' a player might receive (if the team is losing).

The Settings
All settings can be configured in the "Mental's Mutators Configuration Window".
which comes up when you click the UT "Mods" menu and choose "Mental's Mutators".

The settings are saved to the file "Mentals_configs.ini" in your UT system folder.
That file is used for all my mutators, with each mutator's settings having the appropriate name in front of the setting.

'scoregap'
HelpingHand uses a setting called 'scoregap' to determine how much 'help' a player will respawn with.
You set the 'scoregap' for each game type - "DM gap" for DeathMatch, "Team DM gap" for Team DeathMatch,
"DOM gap" for Domination, "CTF gap" for Capture the Flag, "LMS gap" for Last Man Standing.
It is the difference between 2 scores:
* in a team game - it's the leading teams score minus your teams score divided by the scoregap.
* in a non-team game - it's the leading players score minus your player score divided by the scoregap.
(which is shown on your screen as "Spread")

'scoregap' Examples:

1. For a Deathmatch game ("DM gap") -
the "scoregap" is set to 2,
you have 4 frags
the leading player has 8.
The difference between your scores is 4, divided by the "scoregap" = 2,
(8-4) / 2 = 2 scoregaps
so when you spawned you would receive help at level 2.

2. For a CTF game ("CTF gap")
"scoregap" is set at 1,
you're team has 1,
the other team has 4.
(4-1) / 1 = 3 scoregaps, or help at level 3.

So if your winning (or you are on the winning team) you will not get help,
otherwise you will, as long as the 'score gap' has been met.

Health, Speed, and Strength Settings
These are the 'help' you receive when you respawn.

Health, Speed, Strength Examples (for 2 'scoregaps'):
* If Health, Speed, and Strength are set to 10:
You would respawn with 20 more health, 20% more speed, and 20% more strength than normal.

* If Health, Speed, and Strength are set to 30:
You would respawn with 60 more health, 60% more speed, and 60% more strength than normal.

MaxHealth, MaxSpeed, and MaxStrength Settings
These are the maximum 'helps' you can receive when you respawn.

Fatness
You will get 10% fatter for each scoregap.
This lets you know right away what players are stronger, faster, etc.

"Give Help to Bots"
If this is checked then the bots will get 'help' if they are behind, just like human players.

 

Starting Weapon
In addition to health, speed, and strength, you'll be given extra weapon(s) when you respawn, as listed below.

If you (or your team)
are
LOSING BY
You will be given a:
scoregap x 1 ShockRifle
scoregap x 2 ShockRifle + BioRifle
scoregap x 3 above + PulseGun
scoregap x 4 above + SniperRifle
scoregap x 5 above + Ripper
scoregap x 6 above + Minigun
scoregap x 7 above + Flak Cannon
scoregap x 8 above + RocketLauncher
scoregap x 9 above + Redeemer

 

Download Page

Any comments, bug reports, etc.
email me at -
gomental@hotmail.com

 

Version History:
================
v1.7 - 2/18/2002 - improved the way speed help is given, weapons accumulate with each help level, choice to not include bots in giving 'help'.
v1.6 - 2/1/2002 - combined all my mutators settings windows into 1 tabbed window which really cleaned up the "Mod" menu :)
v1.5 - bots now get 'help' too, added fatness
v1.4
- fixed bug so speed resets back to normal when you are not losing
added many new settings so you can customize the 'help' exactly like you want

v1.3 - switched to common 'ini' file for all my mutators
v1.2 - added all the team game types (except assault), added 'maxspeed' setting.
v1.0 - Initial Release

Improvements planned:
==========================
make it work with assault - that's gonna be a bit tricky.
got any ideas?

Credits/Thanks:
===============
Tim Sweeny's tutorial docs, which were an indispensable aid.
Ben Coleman, his mutator "CatchUp" is the 'foundation' of HelpingHand, thanks Ben!

Disclaimer/Legal stuff:
=======================
I've tested it but use it at your own risk (although I don't know of any risks).
This Mutator is Copyright 2000 by Patrick Freeman
Please do not try to make money with this, or distribute it under a different name, etc.
If you do use my code in someway I would be grateful of some kind of acknowledgement.