Introduction

Welcome to the readme for my first ever mutator - Cluster Redeemer. Basically, this mutator adds an option for a redeemer replacement - the Cluster Redeemer. This gun is identical in looks to the redeemer. It even looks identical when you fire it at something. However, when it goes off, something extremely different happens....

I know this readme looks long, but please read it - it contains some handy information on the mutator and its use.

Description and Usage

When the Cluster Redeemer does go off, it sets off a huge explosion, and releases its contents - anything from fifty to a thousand grenades, flying around in all directions like angry bees, exploding on contact or after about ten seconds. However, these aren't your average grenades, They're extra-zippy, extra bouncy and extra volatile! This new version contains a working secondary fire mode - similar to primary fire, but containing hundreds of souped-up rockets!

To use the handy and functional new grenade and rocket sliders, click on the 'Mod' menu in the Tournament starting window, and select 'Cluster Redeemer.'

To test out the redeemer without worrying about someone shooting you nastily, it's best to cheat. No, really. Press tab to get the console up, then type in 'summon warheadlauncher' (without the quote marks) and presto! You have one free Cluster Redeemer. Now watch where you point that baby. It's dangerous.

Version History

Version 1.2

- A slider for average fuze length was added.

Version 1.1

- Added more slidy slidable sliders to configure the initial velocity of the grenades and rockets. Also got rid of rocket smoke

Version 1

- Added slidy slidable sliders to configure the number of grenades or rockets you get when one goes off

- Took off grenades' glow to speed up performance

- Put in rocket-filled secondary fire mode

- Annotated code. To make things easier

Beta 1

- First release. A bit rickety and pretty slow.

Internet and Network Play

This is the second proper release of the mutator. I don't promise perfect compatibility everywhere - my UT is patched to the latest version with no problems. I have received some reports of invisible grenades on some networks. If this occurs on your setup, please drop me a line. Apart from this, the code is very simple, mostly copied from the UT source code anyway, so if the server is running the mod, it should work everywhere. I've tested this newer version on a few people's PCs with no visible problems (apart from some slowdown - unavoidable due to the nature of the thing - see below), but feedback would be brilliant - e-mail me at unholysmoke@yahoo.com. And don't tell me 'Oh no my connection goes really laggy when one goes off how can I fix this?' The lag's half the fun. Just keep telling yourself that.

Wishlist

Here's what I'm gonna try to get going for later:

- Options for what comes out when the projectile goes off. For now, you'll just have to have a look at my notes in the code itself.

- Fixed Death Messages - Not 'Vaporized by Someone's Redeemer,' or 'Smacked down by someone's rocket launcher', but 'Tripped over Somebody's Cluster Grenade.'

- The guided missile feature doesn't work. I know that this would really rock, but it's more complicated than it seems. I'm happy with the secondary fire in this version, so if you don't like it, drop me an e-mail suggesting something cool. Biosludge maybe. Or flak. Or grizzly bears. All quite feasible, (except the bears) so the next version will contain whatever most people want.

Note

Okay, listen up everyone whose computer whose processor's speed is not at least eighteen billion gigahertz, whose RAM is not bigger than the average hard drive, and whose graphics card can't render the universe in 32-bit colour at 1240 x 1024 at many millions of frames per second. Anyone except Bill Gates then, really.

Let's face it, this mutator is a bitch when it comes to system slowdown. I turned off the glow given off by grenades to improve system performance, but my PC still freezes for a second or two when one of these babies goes bang with any more than four or five hundred bangers - even less with rockets. Worth it though.

Turning down graphical options doesn't help much, since the slowdown is almost all due to the huge amounts of physics the game has to do to calculate the roll, pitch, yaw, bounces and explosions of a couple of hundred grenades. This means you'll have to be sensible with your choice of grenades. Say 'thank God for the handy slider in this version,' then choose something that won't cause your PC to go into early retirement.

One last tip consisting of four words and a coupla commas:

Morpheus, Sixteen Bots, Mayhem

Feedback

Cos let's face it, I need it!

Any ideas or suggestions, and I really do mean ANY, should be directed to unholysmoke@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance. Enjoy the mutator!

Credits

- Quequistos - additional coding and testing and stuff

- Everyone who worked on UT. Simple as that.

- Everyone who gave feedback of the beta, reviewed it or put it on their site.

- Juan Pancho Eekels, for the best test map ever: CTF-Hall of Giants. Get it.

- You, for downloading this thing.