LEGO Universe Avant Gardens gameplay part 3 - lcdr & humanoid's server project

[lcdr]

 

 

We enter the spider cave, defeat a few spiders and progress to the monument, where we try to survive a construction site that seems to adhere to no safety standards. There's some interesting server features showcased here, like the bouncers, moving platforms and the server physics necessary for the fans, switches and lasers.

[tomfyhr]

Very authentic! 

 

Will you present Nimbus Station, the Spider Queen or Block Yard in the next update? 

[lcdr]

Spider Queen & Block Yard are next up, though there's still a slight possibility that we'll jump ahead to Nimbus Station, since the Spider Queen bossfight largely depends on a script which has been removed from the client, so reconstructing that might prove difficult. Amusingly, building with models on properties is not the problem, that has been implemented and working since a long time

[tomfyhr]

Is the data you play as a character actually stored, and is it possible to resume playing the game at the area you logged out from, or does it reset each time you log out? 

 

Have any progress been made in relation to Forbidden Valley, Gnarled Forest, Pet Cove or Frostbrough yet? 

[Arkannex]

Since the Spider Queen fight was in the game during live, why was the script removed from the client?

[lcdr]

Yes of course, everything is saved and resumed when you log in again. (However, in these videos we usually choose to reset the characters just in case there are any conflicts from earlier versions since there usually are a ton of changes inbetween the videos.)

 

Other worlds are also mostly working and can be accessed. We'll get to them later in the video series.

[tomfyhr]

4 minutes ago, Arkannex said:

Since the Spider Queen fight was in the game during live, why was the script removed from the client?

What do you mean by "mostly"? What is missing? 

[lcdr]

The spider queen script was serverside, not clientside, so it wasn't strictly necessary to be included in the client at all. Lego figured that out at some point (roughly starting with Crux Prime) and from then on removed serverside scripts from the client. Older server scripts are still present in the client, which is actually lucky for us, since they could have been removed as well but weren't for some reason.

2 minutes ago, tomfyhr said:

What do you mean by "mostly"? What is missing? 

 

Every world has some scripted objects, and the scripts have to be recreated one by one. Most general mechanics are working at this point, but we simply haven't gotten to some scripts yet.

[tomfyhr]

I assume this means that roughly everything except from Crux Prime is playable. I assume you mean that the actual missions and gameplay is absent, and not the geometry of the level. 

[lcdr]

Meshes/Geometry are always available since they are clientside. Missions and Gameplay are also mostly available, except where they depend on scripts, where some missions can't be completed yet. Also some scripts are existing in the client, but not yet implemented in the server, since we use different systems than the original server and can't just copy-paste scripts from the client, but rather have to adapt them to our infrastructure. And as I mentioned, we just haven't done that for all scripts yet. But the worlds are mostly playable.

[lol username]

Ah, those moving platforms are so much smoother without the lag of the server trying to handle thousands of players...

 

I noticed the power-ups (health, armor, imagination) don't seem to play that obnoxious sound effect when they're picked up (like this for example) - looks like some particle effects aren't triggered either (On the imagination orbs, I think? Though I didn't get a good look, as usually several types are being picked up at once). I don't really mind as that sound effect was added in an update post-launch and I just found it annoying, but it's something to be aware of if you're going for accuracy. You'd also see particle effects around other players when they grabbed power-ups, which was somewhat useful for knowing who got the loot in hotly contested battles. None of it's really crucial to core gameplay though.

[Neal]

Curious, what do you plan on doing for all content past Crux Prime? Given how much reliance all those worlds had on scripts, since they were taken out from that point onward.

[lcdr]

48 minutes ago, Terrev said:

I noticed the power-ups (health, armor, imagination) don't seem to play that obnoxious sound effect when they're picked up (like this for example) - looks like some particle effects aren't triggered either (On the imagination orbs, I think? Though I didn't get a good look, as usually several types are being picked up at once). I don't really mind as that sound effect was added in an update post-launch and I just found it annoying, but it's something to be aware of if you're going for accuracy. You'd also see particle effects around other players when they grabbed power-ups, which was somewhat useful for knowing who got the loot in hotly contested battles. None of it's really crucial to core gameplay though.

 

Hmm you're right, thanks for mentioning.
I implemented it now, so you'll be hearing that sound effect in the later videos

 

 

8 minutes ago, Neal said:

Curious, what do you plan on doing for all content past Crux Prime? Given how much reliance all those worlds had on scripts, since they were taken out from that point onward.

 

It's possible to recreate the scripts to some extent from the captured network traffic (Though of course it is more difficult and potentially incomplete). In fact, I've already done this for some worlds including Crux Prime and Nexus Tower, and you've actually seen it in the videos - the scripts for the FTP missions shown last time were also removed and then recreated using this method.

[tomfyhr]

How likely is it that LEGO will interfere with the re-creation of LEGO Universe one it has been completed to a large extent?

 

Won´t this make LEGO´s decision to not release an offline version be a faulty move, since the game mostly playable anyway? 

[Neal]

2 minutes ago, lcdr said:

It's possible to recreate the scripts to some extent from the captured network traffic (Though of course it is more difficult and potentially incomplete). In fact, I've already done this for some worlds including Crux Prime and Nexus Tower, and you've actually seen it in the videos - the scripts for the FTP missions shown last time were also removed and then recreated using this method.

Yeah, was curious if the captures actually hit all the important content in those worlds. Frakjaw Battle and those worlds will be rough if the captures don't hit all of it.

[lcdr]

1 minute ago, tomfyhr said:

How likely is it that LEGO will interfere with the re-creation of LEGO Universe one it has been completed to a large extent?

 

LEGO hasn't interfered so far, even though projects like LUNI created a lot of hype. I guess we'll have to see whether they do anything when a playable server is available, but it's been over 5 years since the game closed and I think LEGO probably doesn't care anymore (it's likely most people associated with LEGO Universe don't even work there anymore.).

[Baffish]

Great work so far!

Do you know how long until we get to see the spider queen?

 

Keep up the amazing work you are doing 

 

Baffish. 

[aidenpons]

I'm just wondering, noobish me that I am that only edits text strings and integer values in LRR; instead of trying to re-create scrips that you have some objects for and some knowledge about, could you not do what Lego Universe appeared to do and just add a completely new world? That way you don't need to try and navigate around potentially fussy sections of code, as well as completely lacking some scripts. Of course, it means you do have to write it all yourself...

.... just a noobish and probably laughably incorrect thought.

 

EDIT: yep

[lol username]

5 hours ago, aidenpons said:

I'm just wondering, noobish me that I am that only edits text strings and integer values in LRR; instead of trying to re-create scrips that you have some objects for and some knowledge about, could you not do what Lego Universe appeared to do and just add a completely new world? That way you don't need to try and navigate around potentially fussy sections of code, as well as completely lacking some scripts. Of course, it means you do have to write it all yourself...

.... just a noobish and probably laughably incorrect thought.

wat