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Multi-player and Custom Missions FAQ
Shattered Steel sports an asynchronous network system where up to 16 players
can dynamically join in-progress cooperative and anarchy games (which also
allow a wide variety of customizable game types) - even playing against AI
anarchy players that have names, personalities and get kills like any other
human player. This FAQ deals with the logistics of starting and playing
multi-player games with Shattered Steel; as an added bonus we'll also discuss
the procedure of loading and playing custom, user-made missions since it deals
with similar screens and procedures.
Index
1. Multi-player Games
1.1 How many CDs to Play a Multi-player Game
1.2 Starting a Multi-player Game1.2.1 Procedure for Staring Multi-player
Games with less CDs than Players.
1.2.2 Voting and Choosing a Game (The Voting Screen)
1.2.3 Joining a Multi-player game
1.3 Different Types of Multi-player Games1.3.1 Anarchy1.3.1.1 Voting
Options
1.3.1.2 Arming
1.3.1.3 Weapons on the Map
1.3.1.4 Scores
1.3.2 Team Anarchy
1.3.3 Co-op
1.3.4 Team Co-op
1.4 Computer Players and Their Use
1.5 Kali and Shattered Steel
1.6 Common Network Problems and Solutions
1.7 Using Multiple Sockets for Multiple Simultaneous Games
1.8 Customizations in the SSTEEL.INI file
2. Custom Missions
2.1 Starting a Single Player Custom Mission
2.2 Starting a Multi-Player Custom Mission
The Info
1. Multi-player Games
Shattered Steel was designed with multi-player support in mind from day 1 of
development. As a result we believe that it offers the largest variety of
network action of any game currently available. Not only can players face-off
directly in an Anarchy game but they can also work together in a team Co-op
game and battle through the actual single player missions or play on opposing
teams with opposing goals in specially designed network missions. Features
include:
Cooperative play:
- play with allies with a common goal
Team Cooperative play:
- in the original missions some players can play on the side of the aliens -
trying to stop the other players from accomplishing their objectives.
- in the special world 5 missions the players are divided into two teams who
have objectives (eg. destroy/protect a convoy). These are usually designed to
not feature help from computer-controlled bots.
Anarchy controllable features:
- up to 15 AI computer players, who get kills like any other player
- no-regeneration (everyone stays dead when killed, shorter/deadlier)
- no-shields/unlimited-ammo (a true shrapnel-fest, try it with the nuke!)
- radar control (no radar, partial radar, no map radar, full radar)
- team anarchy
This section explains some of the intricacies in the process of starting a
network game and getting the most out of it. Read on to learn more about
Networked Shattered Steel.
1.1 How many CDs to Play a Multi-player Game
Shattered Steel requires a single CD for every two players. We wanted people
to try out Shattered Steel with a friend as this is the way it is best
enjoyed; there's nothing like working together as a tightly knit team against
the foul aliens. The procedure for starting at Network game with less CDs than
player is detailed in section 1.2.2
1.2 Starting a Multi-player Game
The first step on starting a multi-player game is to enter the multi-player
area directly from the Hydra IV station screen (the first screen at which the
player has control of the game following the movies).
When you move your mouse cursor over the door on the far wall of the screen
the text "Multi-player and Custom Games" should appear. Clicking there will
cause you to enter the room and have access to the Multi-player menu.
Next you will be asked to enter your call-sign (unless you have specified a
default call-sign as described in section 1.8).
After you have entered your call-sign will be faced with a menu with multiple
choices; the most important entry on this menu is the [Options] button.
Clicking on the [Options] button will allow you to change your Network Socket
number and make changes in your Modem and Serial Parameters.
Finally, click on the appropriate button (eg. 'Login to Network Game').
Shattered Steel will first try to see if there already is a game running on
your currently selected socket - in which case you would join that game (if
permitted). If there is no game on that socket then your system will initiate
one. In any case of success you will enter the voting screen.
Note that in the case of a 'Single Player Game' there is no searching for an
existing game and in 'Serial Game' there is no concept of different sockets,
it will simply look for your opponent through your serial connection.
1.2.1 Procedure for Staring Multi-player Games with less CDs than Players.
The process for starting a game with less CDs than players requires a little
explanation. First, you must have one CD per every two players; two players
need one CD, 3 players need 2 CDs, 4 players need 2 CDs, 5 players need 3 CDs
and so on...
The players without CDs must install the missions to their hard drives. If
they have not already done so they must re-install the game to put the
missions on their hard drives correctly.
The players with the CDs should be the ones to start the game and join in
first; the game checks each time a player is added to see how many CDs are
present, thus its a good idea for the players with CDs to start the game.
1.2.2 Voting and Choosing a Game (The Voting Screen)
Once players have entered the voting screen they are faced with a number of
choices; first they should choose the type of game they want to play (the
different types are described in detail in section 1.3).
Team Number - this allows you to change your team when it is appropriate, such
as in Team Anarchy Games and Team Co-op Games. You can select a team number
whether or not the game type is 'team' - this is in case the vote result ends
up being a team game. Note for Team Anarchy what matters is your team number
(0 to 15) and for Co-op games all that matters is whether you have selected
Good or Evil. If team play is the vote, your team is displayed in parenthesis
beside your name in the chat area.
Game Type - Cooperative or Anarchy. In cooperative you are on one team of
players trying to accomplish some objections. In anarchy you are trying to
obliterate (sometimes repeatedly) your opponents.
Team Play - Yes or No. This affects the game type. Team Co-op breaks all the
players into two teams, one trying to achieve some objectives and another
trying to stop the 'Good' team from achieving their objectives. Team anarchy
is fairly self explanatory: it simply reduces the number of opponents.
ANARCHY-SPECIFIC VOTES: (only available if you vote anarchy)
Different Radar choices also exist - the basic premise is that they
progressively show less and less area on the radar. Removing radar can make a
game more exciting but with few players it can sometimes be difficult to find
your enemies. Full radar makes it trivial to find your enemies.
Different Runner Classes - light runners include the Gnat, Stormguard and the
Invader. Medium runners include the Stormguard, the Invader, the Warthog and
the Raptor. Heavy runners include the Warthog, Raptor, Retro and the Shiva.
Different Weapon Classes - this section is pretty much self-explanatory. The
light class had the weakest weapons while the heavy class has the strongest.
It also affects which shield generators and reactors are available.
Computer Players - this is the number of computer players present in a given
game (they are not allowed in cooperative games). Additionally you can
sometimes change the team of the computer players to either join with you or
to be an opponent. Right-clicking on a player is sufficient to increment the
team number.
NOTE: control of the computer players' teams is broken up evenly between all
players. For team anarchy, normally it is expected that all involved players
will agree how to divvy up the computer players between the teams - division
of control is in case this is not so and you want to put as many computer
players as possible on your team.
COOPERATIVE-SPECIFIC VOTES
World Number - we keep track of the missions on a world by world basis. This
may seem a little obscure but it is vestige of the original design of
Shattered Steel. Worlds 1 and 2 are the worlds that contain the single player
missions, there is currently no World 3 (perhaps later?), World 4 contains the
20 Anarchy missions, World 5 contains the 20 Co-op Team missions. We will
shortly be adding World 6 with a patch; this will be the world on which people
can place custom missions made by the mission editor. Since anarchy is fixed
to world 4, for cooperative you can only vote for World 1 or World 5. If you
want to play World 2 you will have to play through World 1 or get a proper
savegame. (Also if you have custom missions you will be able to vote for World
6 as well)
World 1: these are the original missions. If you play them in team coop the
'evil' players will play on the side of the aliens and will try to stop you
(eg. in the prison mission they want to shoot down the shuttle). For team coop
it is suggested a majority of the players go on the 'good' team since
otherwise it is unbalanced towards the aliens.
World 5: these are specially designed team coop missions. There are no
computer controlled allies, so it's more even. One example is a mission where
one team must simply protect a convoy while the other must destroy the convoy.
These missions feature a lot of weapons on the maps and a lot of equipment
given out each mission to the winning team. They are only really interesting
with 4+ players.
FINALLY
Once you have made your choices you hit the 'Submit' button - remember that
you can't change your choices once you have voted.
A bit of side info - at the top of the right side of the screen are the
buttons to toggle between the chat and vote info - you can learn how your
enemies are voting here. You can also click on each opponent individually and
the voting area of the screen (the left side) will display how that opponent
is voting. You cannot change their votes and must click back on yourself to
change votes. The 'Submit Vote' button is active no matter who you are clicked
on however.
Also, if you click on the 'final results' summary in the bottom of the screen
the voting area to the left will show you in detail what the current final
results of the voting are.
TIE BREAKING
If there is a tie for any particular voting category, the votes of players who
joined earlier carry more weight.
1.2.3 Joining a Multi-player game
(NB. for the Shareware version the player limit is 4 not 16)
Cooperative games: you can join a cooperative game in progress as long as the
16 player limit has not been reached. The coop game also must be in-between
missions since it is not permitted to join a coop game in progress.
Anarchy games: you can join any anarchy game in progress, unless it has
reached the 16 player limit (including computer players) or it is a
no-regeneration game (in which case you must wait for it to finish). If you
join a game which has already launched you will enter the arming screen first
where you can select your chassis and your reactor/shield generator. You are
limited to the light laser and small rocket packet for reasons discussed below
in 1.3.1
Team games: same as above except you will have a chance at the voting screen
to select which team you want to join. Click 'Submit Vote' when you are done.
Other situations where you may be rejected:
- you are using shareware/OEM/registered and you are trying to join a game
running with one of the others
- you have a different version of Shattered Steel from the game you are trying
to join
- there are a few other situations which may occasionally arise but those two
are the most likely
If you cannot join a game for one of the above reasons and you need to start
your own, you can select a different socket number from the Options menu (see
section 1.7 below).
1.3 Different Types of Multi-player Games
Shattered Steel offers the largest variety of multi-player game-types of any
game currently available. This section details all of the various basic types
of games you can play.
1.3.1 Anarchy
This is the standard Deathmatch that we all know and love - computer players
can be added in as desired and will function quite independently. There are no
special ins or outs to this type of game. The only world you can play Anarchy
on is World 4. There are plenty of things to know about how it works however:
1.3.1.1 Voting Options
No Radar: your radar is useless
Partial Radar: you can only see runners in the front half your radar circle
No Map Radar: you can see all runners in your radar circle, but going to the
map is useless except to see the map topography
Full Radar: by using the map you can see where all your opponents are
Unlimited Ammo: this is pretty clear
Regeneration: when you die, you will be floating around the location of your
destruction and are safe and free to look at the map and scores. As soon as
you press your primary fire button you will respawn in one of 16 pre-specified
random locations. ESC to end this kind of game.
No-regeneration: when you die you stay dead. Pressing the primary fire button
or ESC will exit to the kill screen, where you must wait for all other players
to exit. The game continues until all players abort, there are no teams left,
or there is one team left (one player in the case of non-team play)
1.3.1.2 Arming
If you joined a game in progress you can only select your chassis and your
reactor/shield generator. Otherwise you can equip your runner however you like
dependent on the voted upon weapons level. Note that you will lose all these
weapons when you die, so in a regeneration game you are really dictating what
weapons will be available in that anarchy game. (ie. if no one arms with a
nuke, unless there is always a nuke on that map then there will never be one).
Arming in anarchy games has one extra feature: the ability to load and save
runner configurations. eg. you can have a saved chassis for heavy weapons,
heavy runner where you don't have to manually outfit your Shiva with level 3
generators, level 3 shields, a nuke, heavy plasma, etc. The game watches to
make sure you have the right weapons available and the right chassis selected
(ie. if you are loading a Shiva saved configuration you should have your Shiva
selected).
1.3.1.3 Weapons on the Map
There is generally no such thing as 'respawning weapons'. If there are two
210mm howitzers in the game, then there will only ever be two 210mm howitzers
in the game and they will move around as people pick them up and get
killed/drop them. So when a player dies, all carried weapons will be dropped
at that location. There are only a few exceptions to this:
- light lasers always disappear when dropped
- small rockets disappear if dropped with a low amount of ammo. In earlier
versions, small rockets only disappeared if dropped with 0 ammo however it was
discovered in 16-player 'frag-fests' the map quickly became littered with
small rocket packets (18Packs). This is a sort of population control and it is
likely in many games you will still find plenty of small rocket packs
scattered across the map
- non-rechargeable weapons with 0 ammo are restocked and randomly repositioned
on the map. So (unless you are playing with unlimited ammo), a nuke will
always be randomly repositioned when dropped after being fired (since it only
has 1 ammo) - but a 70mm gattling gun will not be restocked/repositioned until
the very last shot is gone (and a rechargeable energy weapon will never be
repositioned).
NOTE: two types of areas tend to become littered with weapons. Heavy combat
areas tend to become littered (especially with small rocket packs) since so
many players get killed there and very few people have the opportunity to
actually pickup weapons. The other type of area is unfrequented areas.
Randomly repositioned weapons slowly collect in these areas because they are
so out of the way no one wanders by to pick up the guns. It can be quite a
chore on some map to find the nuke that you *know* someone brought in and has
not been seen in a while.
1.3.1.4 Scores
Scores are fairly simple. You get 1 point for killing an enemy and lose 1
point for killing a teammate (including yourself). When you look at the kills
screen you will see a plethora of information. First there is a grid indexed
by killer (row) and killed (column) so you can see how many times you killed
each player. The vertical totals are total number of times a player has been
killed (self-kills are not -1 in this case), and horizontal totals are the
total number of times you have killed another player (minus team-kills).
Furthermore, in team-play there is a second total on the far right which is
the total points your team has.
NOTE: total kills/deaths are not a total versus current playing players. They
are an accumulated total over time in that anarchy game so may be a little
higher than the total kills versus current playing players (the grid).
STREAKS: The top three kills and killed streaks are recorded. Kills streaks
are the largest # of kills in a row a player has gained before getting killed,
and killed streaks is the largest # of times a player has been killed before
actually getting a kill. They are updated not as the streak accumulates, but
rather when the streak finally ends. This information is not distributed to
players joining a game so may be inconsistent across systems.
1.3.2 Team Anarchy
This type of Anarchy game allows specific teams to be set before the game
begins. Again computer players can be added before the game starts and can
either player with or against human players. One type of game we recommend is
humans vs. the computers - team two or three humans against ten computer and
watch the fireworks. Similarly it is fun to try a single player game with 16
runners: you and a group of computer players vs the rest. The only world that
you can play Anarchy on is World 4.
This functions the same as regular anarchy except the scores are calculated a
little different (each teach has a total which is the total of all its
members, and you lose 1 point each time you kill a teammate).
1.3.3 Co-op
Co-op stands for cooperative missions. This signifies humans working together
to play through the standard single player missions. Few things change with
multiple players playing through the single player missions : there are still
mission goals, there is still a story with mission branching, there are more
enemies to destroy. We really recommend trying the game this way - there's
nothing like four or five friends taking on a huge battalion of aliens with a
variety of Runners armed with Plasma Cannons, IR Missiles, Mortars and Nukes.
And there's nothing like a huge squad of allied runners mobbing towards the
approaching pack of aliens. True Co-op can only be played on World 1. It is
pointless to play non-team Co-op on world 5 since there are generally no
computer controlled bots (beyond things like supply convoys).
Caution: Co-op has one major functional difference from single player. In
single player you are free to abort the mission (and save your runner) at any
point simply by hitting escape. In co-op play, to avoid abuse and make it more
realistic (and to prevent people from escaping just before dying in team-coop)
you must be 'Safe' before you can hit ESC to abort the mission and save your
bot. Otherwise, you must eject by typing EJECT or hitting CTRL-X (and you will
lose your runner and equipment).
'Safe' is defined as there are no enemies (red blips) in your radar, so you
may have to do some cleanup or (most likely) high-tail it to some corner of
the map. The justification is that what is actually happening when you exit is
that a dropship comes down and picks you up (unfortunately, this was not coded
- but will be for a future sequel). If there are enemies nearby, the dropship
refuses to risk itself for some mercenary.
Loading Games:
The first player in an co-op game is designated as the 'Game Master'. When a
game is loaded if you are not the game master only the saved chassis and
equipment is loaded and the active missions are not altered. If the game
master loads a game, this changes everyone's active missions. This is
something to remember since if you are the game master and in the last mission
you lost your best runner and best weapons and you only have an old saved game
from which to get them back you may end up making everyone replay an old
mission (ie. save often if you are prone to munchkinism).
Note you are able to load a save game from any type of multi-player game (even
single player). Also note if you try to load a save game from a later point,
you will only be able to load runners that are actually available by the
mission you are on (so you can't easily cheat).
Saving Games:
When you get destroyed you lose both your runner and all its equipment. Since
multi-player missions can get quite difficult (especially as the number of
participating players increases) you may want to save often (ie. once per
mission). This way if you die and you want to you can reload your equipment
and runner and replay the mission. However, if you are the game master and you
died but the mission was won this is not suggested (ie. accept your loss)
since reloading would force a replay of that (likely) difficult mission. When
you load a game it will inform all other players via your chat, so you can
keep an eye on your opponents and know if they are using this feature. If you
want to be a die-hard gamer and try a real challenge, see how far you can get
without reloading. By the way, you are automatically resupplied with two Gnats
when you run out of runners (now you know how to defeat the Mantis!)
Movies: there are no movies played in multi-player games. You'll simply have
to finish those missions without help.
1.3.4 Team Co-op
Team Co-op represents some of the more interesting game possibilities that are
present in Shattered Steel. In one instance you are able to join the alien
side in the actual single player missions and try and stop your human enemies
from completing missions.
World 5 has twenty specific missions with opposing goals for two teams: the
MegaCorps and the Northern Atlantic Socialist Concordant. These missions pit
two teams of human players directly against each other. The missions have
directly opposing goals, such as, Team A - destroy the convoy and Team B -
escort the convoy. These missions have interesting story to match the exciting
gameplay. They are also full of equipment inside the mission and the winning
team for each mission gets a lot of good new equipment and a team point. These
missions are optimal with at least 4 players.
World 1 Team Co-op allows for two teams, one team (Good) are the standard
human Planet Runner pilots who are dropping in to destroy the Aliens; the
other team (Evil) joins the alien invaders and works against the goals of the
Good team. For example, in the convoy mission in world 1 the evil team must
first try to stop the convoy and then try to destroy the base. Like in World 5
the winning team gets the equipment rewarded for that mission.
Since, especially in World 1, the game can get hung up on a mission where the
Evil team wins it far too easily (the prison mission is an example), no matter
what happens the mission is incremented and a score is kept for each side,
Good and Evil. So it ends up being a contest where the team with the most wins
gets the bragging rights.
1.4 Computer Players and Their Use
Computer players can add a lot of excitement to Anarchy missions when there
are only a 1-2 human combatants available. You can add them as needed. If you
are playing a team game you can increment their team by right clicking on
them; or, you can select them with the left click and choose their team and
vote as usual. You can put them on your team, on another team, or simply play
straight anarchy and let them fend for themselves. In team play they are smart
enough to not attack teammates.
Once you have started the game the computer players are completely independent
(and quite dangerous if they get a lock on you).
1.5 Kali and Shattered Steel
We're been working on making Shattered Steel more Kali friendly and have made
a couple changes to improve gameplay. Shattered Steel already uses an internal
compensation method for slow packet transfer rates and thus should be fairly
fast even with slow connections. The asynchronous nature and interpolation
should make it run better although you may notice that sometimes it takes
longer to kill an opponent than normal.
We have addressed a problem regarding timeout by using a command line
parameter (that can also be placed in the SSTEEL.INI file). The -timeout #
command allows you to set the number of seconds that Timeouts start at. The
original Shattered Steel was set at 10 seconds but we found that this timed
out during login of Kali and when slow computers were involved. Thus we've
increased the default timeout to 20 seconds. You can increase(decrease) it
with commands like, -timeout 30 - this will increase the timeout to 30
seconds. Note this is only the timeout value your system will use, if you have
put a large timeout value the other players in the game should probably put a
similar one (although it is not required).
Caution: putting a large value is not necessarily a good thing, since it takes
that long for your system to realize another player has timed out. eg. you all
launch, and for some reason one of the players crashes. You have to wait 'x'
seconds before he is timed out and the game can continue.
1.6 Common Network Problems and Solutions
(To be filled in)
The engine is fairly self-correcting which helps, but sometimes a network game
may become unsynchronized - in which case restarting the mission or restarting
the network game is an extreme way to fix the problem.
We have also observed a problem under Win95 with some network cards(?) where
one system will suddenly lose the connection to the rest of the game, or will
stop receiving packets but will continue sending (this can cause all sorts of
havoc). Running the game from pure DOS with DOS IPXODI drivers may help.
Though we try to ensure that two players don't play the same multi-player game
with different missions, it is possible for some data to be inconsistent and
for the game to not catch it. You should ensure that no one is playing with an
edited mission, or at least make sure everyone has the same edited mission.
1.7 Using Multiple Sockets for Multiple Simultaneous Games
For a large network or for games using Kali users will want to change socket
numbers. Access the [Options] section on the main multi-player menu, this
should give you a screen with a Socket # box in the top right corner of the
screen. You can change the socket number with the buttons provided - changing
the socket number will cause games not to "see" each other as the addresses
are unique. Thus using this method you can play multiple games on the same
network or Kali server. Shattered Steel limits games to the socket range 6900h
- 6999h (h means these are hexadecimal values).
You can also use the command-line parameter '-socket x' to specify socket
offset x which can save you from changing it manually in the Options screen.
eg. '-socket 11' (this actually uses 6911h). The valid range for x is 0 - 99
(note that these are actually hex values so if you wanted to feel special you
use '-socket 1f'.)
1.8 Customizations in the SSTEEL.INI file
The SSTEEL.INI file is a text file that can be edited either by EDIT the
completely amazing DOS text editing program or the Windows95 Notepad. Make
sure that whatever you edit the file with saves it in plain text format. Every
option should be on its own separate line in this file.
Here are the current commands that can be put in the SSTEEL.INI file or used
as command-line parameters:
COMMAND: EFFECT:
-window windowed movies rather than full screen
-nocd Turn off CD audio
-nopoll Turn off CD polling
-socket x use socket 'x' for IPX games (range 0-99)
-handle blah set your handle to 'blah' (max 8 characters)
-netgame jump immediately to IPX game
-timeout x set opponent timeout to 'x' (default is 20, min 10)
Clearly, options like -socket and -netgame are more suited for use as
command-line parameters, while options like -handle are more suited for
inclusion in the SSTEEL.INI file. Here is a sample SSTEEL.INI:
-window
-handle MrGumby
2. Custom Missions
Very shortly the mission editor will be released. Additionally we will be
releasing a patch to Shattered Steel that will support easy loading of the
missions made by the mission editor. This section details a quick summary of
the methods used to play Custom missions. Essentially you end up going to the
voting screen and voting for World 6 (in a co-op game), the World 6 vote will
only be available if you have a WORLD_6 directory which contains the standard
planet files like the other world directories (they should be placed there by
the editor). In case you need to know: PLANET.PCX, PLANET.PAL and MISDESC.TXT
are the files that are needed.
2.1 Starting a Single Player Custom Mission
With the new patch that will be available shortly players will be able to
easily add and play missions that they create.
The process of starting a custom mission is a little different from normal
single player missions - you have to access the section via a button on the
multi-player screen. The button at the bottom of the screen previously read
[Single Player Anarchy] - it should now read [Single Player Game]. Click on
this to access the single player voting screen (it will look identical to the
multi-player voting screen). From here you should click on Co-op and then
increment the World indicator up to World 6 - this is the world on which the
single player custom mission occur. Once you have done this submit your vote
and you will be sent to the drop ship.
On the dropship the procedure is just like playing World 1.
2.2 Starting a Multi-Player Custom Mission
The same as above, except as usual you would click on Login To Network Game or
Serial Game, choose Co-op, vote World 6. Note that all involved players should
have the same world 6 missions.
Shattered Steel sports an asynchronous network system where up to 16 players
can dynamically join in-progress cooperative and anarchy games (which also
allow a wide variety of customizable game types) - even playing against AI
anarchy players that have names, personalities and get kills like any other
human player. This FAQ deals with the logistics of starting and playing
multi-player games with Shattered Steel; as an added bonus we'll also discuss
the procedure of loading and playing custom, user-made missions since it deals
with similar screens and procedures.
Index
1. Multi-player Games
1.1 How many CDs to Play a Multi-player Game
1.2 Starting a Multi-player Game1.2.1 Procedure for Staring Multi-player
Games with less CDs than Players.
1.2.2 Voting and Choosing a Game (The Voting Screen)
1.2.3 Joining a Multi-player game
1.3 Different Types of Multi-player Games1.3.1 Anarchy1.3.1.1 Voting
Options
1.3.1.2 Arming
1.3.1.3 Weapons on the Map
1.3.1.4 Scores
1.3.2 Team Anarchy
1.3.3 Co-op
1.3.4 Team Co-op
1.4 Computer Players and Their Use
1.5 Kali and Shattered Steel
1.6 Common Network Problems and Solutions
1.7 Using Multiple Sockets for Multiple Simultaneous Games
1.8 Customizations in the SSTEEL.INI file
2. Custom Missions
2.1 Starting a Single Player Custom Mission
2.2 Starting a Multi-Player Custom Mission
The Info
1. Multi-player Games
Shattered Steel was designed with multi-player support in mind from day 1 of
development. As a result we believe that it offers the largest variety of
network action of any game currently available. Not only can players face-off
directly in an Anarchy game but they can also work together in a team Co-op
game and battle through the actual single player missions or play on opposing
teams with opposing goals in specially designed network missions. Features
include:
Cooperative play:
- play with allies with a common goal
Team Cooperative play:
- in the original missions some players can play on the side of the aliens -
trying to stop the other players from accomplishing their objectives.
- in the special world 5 missions the players are divided into two teams who
have objectives (eg. destroy/protect a convoy). These are usually designed to
not feature help from computer-controlled bots.
Anarchy controllable features:
- up to 15 AI computer players, who get kills like any other player
- no-regeneration (everyone stays dead when killed, shorter/deadlier)
- no-shields/unlimited-ammo (a true shrapnel-fest, try it with the nuke!)
- radar control (no radar, partial radar, no map radar, full radar)
- team anarchy
This section explains some of the intricacies in the process of starting a
network game and getting the most out of it. Read on to learn more about
Networked Shattered Steel.
1.1 How many CDs to Play a Multi-player Game
Shattered Steel requires a single CD for every two players. We wanted people
to try out Shattered Steel with a friend as this is the way it is best
enjoyed; there's nothing like working together as a tightly knit team against
the foul aliens. The procedure for starting at Network game with less CDs than
player is detailed in section 1.2.2
1.2 Starting a Multi-player Game
The first step on starting a multi-player game is to enter the multi-player
area directly from the Hydra IV station screen (the first screen at which the
player has control of the game following the movies).
When you move your mouse cursor over the door on the far wall of the screen
the text "Multi-player and Custom Games" should appear. Clicking there will
cause you to enter the room and have access to the Multi-player menu.
Next you will be asked to enter your call-sign (unless you have specified a
default call-sign as described in section 1.8).
After you have entered your call-sign will be faced with a menu with multiple
choices; the most important entry on this menu is the [Options] button.
Clicking on the [Options] button will allow you to change your Network Socket
number and make changes in your Modem and Serial Parameters.
Finally, click on the appropriate button (eg. 'Login to Network Game').
Shattered Steel will first try to see if there already is a game running on
your currently selected socket - in which case you would join that game (if
permitted). If there is no game on that socket then your system will initiate
one. In any case of success you will enter the voting screen.
Note that in the case of a 'Single Player Game' there is no searching for an
existing game and in 'Serial Game' there is no concept of different sockets,
it will simply look for your opponent through your serial connection.
1.2.1 Procedure for Staring Multi-player Games with less CDs than Players.
The process for starting a game with less CDs than players requires a little
explanation. First, you must have one CD per every two players; two players
need one CD, 3 players need 2 CDs, 4 players need 2 CDs, 5 players need 3 CDs
and so on...
The players without CDs must install the missions to their hard drives. If
they have not already done so they must re-install the game to put the
missions on their hard drives correctly.
The players with the CDs should be the ones to start the game and join in
first; the game checks each time a player is added to see how many CDs are
present, thus its a good idea for the players with CDs to start the game.
1.2.2 Voting and Choosing a Game (The Voting Screen)
Once players have entered the voting screen they are faced with a number of
choices; first they should choose the type of game they want to play (the
different types are described in detail in section 1.3).
Team Number - this allows you to change your team when it is appropriate, such
as in Team Anarchy Games and Team Co-op Games. You can select a team number
whether or not the game type is 'team' - this is in case the vote result ends
up being a team game. Note for Team Anarchy what matters is your team number
(0 to 15) and for Co-op games all that matters is whether you have selected
Good or Evil. If team play is the vote, your team is displayed in parenthesis
beside your name in the chat area.
Game Type - Cooperative or Anarchy. In cooperative you are on one team of
players trying to accomplish some objections. In anarchy you are trying to
obliterate (sometimes repeatedly) your opponents.
Team Play - Yes or No. This affects the game type. Team Co-op breaks all the
players into two teams, one trying to achieve some objectives and another
trying to stop the 'Good' team from achieving their objectives. Team anarchy
is fairly self explanatory: it simply reduces the number of opponents.
ANARCHY-SPECIFIC VOTES: (only available if you vote anarchy)
Different Radar choices also exist - the basic premise is that they
progressively show less and less area on the radar. Removing radar can make a
game more exciting but with few players it can sometimes be difficult to find
your enemies. Full radar makes it trivial to find your enemies.
Different Runner Classes - light runners include the Gnat, Stormguard and the
Invader. Medium runners include the Stormguard, the Invader, the Warthog and
the Raptor. Heavy runners include the Warthog, Raptor, Retro and the Shiva.
Different Weapon Classes - this section is pretty much self-explanatory. The
light class had the weakest weapons while the heavy class has the strongest.
It also affects which shield generators and reactors are available.
Computer Players - this is the number of computer players present in a given
game (they are not allowed in cooperative games). Additionally you can
sometimes change the team of the computer players to either join with you or
to be an opponent. Right-clicking on a player is sufficient to increment the
team number.
NOTE: control of the computer players' teams is broken up evenly between all
players. For team anarchy, normally it is expected that all involved players
will agree how to divvy up the computer players between the teams - division
of control is in case this is not so and you want to put as many computer
players as possible on your team.
COOPERATIVE-SPECIFIC VOTES
World Number - we keep track of the missions on a world by world basis. This
may seem a little obscure but it is vestige of the original design of
Shattered Steel. Worlds 1 and 2 are the worlds that contain the single player
missions, there is currently no World 3 (perhaps later?), World 4 contains the
20 Anarchy missions, World 5 contains the 20 Co-op Team missions. We will
shortly be adding World 6 with a patch; this will be the world on which people
can place custom missions made by the mission editor. Since anarchy is fixed
to world 4, for cooperative you can only vote for World 1 or World 5. If you
want to play World 2 you will have to play through World 1 or get a proper
savegame. (Also if you have custom missions you will be able to vote for World
6 as well)
World 1: these are the original missions. If you play them in team coop the
'evil' players will play on the side of the aliens and will try to stop you
(eg. in the prison mission they want to shoot down the shuttle). For team coop
it is suggested a majority of the players go on the 'good' team since
otherwise it is unbalanced towards the aliens.
World 5: these are specially designed team coop missions. There are no
computer controlled allies, so it's more even. One example is a mission where
one team must simply protect a convoy while the other must destroy the convoy.
These missions feature a lot of weapons on the maps and a lot of equipment
given out each mission to the winning team. They are only really interesting
with 4+ players.
FINALLY
Once you have made your choices you hit the 'Submit' button - remember that
you can't change your choices once you have voted.
A bit of side info - at the top of the right side of the screen are the
buttons to toggle between the chat and vote info - you can learn how your
enemies are voting here. You can also click on each opponent individually and
the voting area of the screen (the left side) will display how that opponent
is voting. You cannot change their votes and must click back on yourself to
change votes. The 'Submit Vote' button is active no matter who you are clicked
on however.
Also, if you click on the 'final results' summary in the bottom of the screen
the voting area to the left will show you in detail what the current final
results of the voting are.
TIE BREAKING
If there is a tie for any particular voting category, the votes of players who
joined earlier carry more weight.
1.2.3 Joining a Multi-player game
(NB. for the Shareware version the player limit is 4 not 16)
Cooperative games: you can join a cooperative game in progress as long as the
16 player limit has not been reached. The coop game also must be in-between
missions since it is not permitted to join a coop game in progress.
Anarchy games: you can join any anarchy game in progress, unless it has
reached the 16 player limit (including computer players) or it is a
no-regeneration game (in which case you must wait for it to finish). If you
join a game which has already launched you will enter the arming screen first
where you can select your chassis and your reactor/shield generator. You are
limited to the light laser and small rocket packet for reasons discussed below
in 1.3.1
Team games: same as above except you will have a chance at the voting screen
to select which team you want to join. Click 'Submit Vote' when you are done.
Other situations where you may be rejected:
- you are using shareware/OEM/registered and you are trying to join a game
running with one of the others
- you have a different version of Shattered Steel from the game you are trying
to join
- there are a few other situations which may occasionally arise but those two
are the most likely
If you cannot join a game for one of the above reasons and you need to start
your own, you can select a different socket number from the Options menu (see
section 1.7 below).
1.3 Different Types of Multi-player Games
Shattered Steel offers the largest variety of multi-player game-types of any
game currently available. This section details all of the various basic types
of games you can play.
1.3.1 Anarchy
This is the standard Deathmatch that we all know and love - computer players
can be added in as desired and will function quite independently. There are no
special ins or outs to this type of game. The only world you can play Anarchy
on is World 4. There are plenty of things to know about how it works however:
1.3.1.1 Voting Options
No Radar: your radar is useless
Partial Radar: you can only see runners in the front half your radar circle
No Map Radar: you can see all runners in your radar circle, but going to the
map is useless except to see the map topography
Full Radar: by using the map you can see where all your opponents are
Unlimited Ammo: this is pretty clear
Regeneration: when you die, you will be floating around the location of your
destruction and are safe and free to look at the map and scores. As soon as
you press your primary fire button you will respawn in one of 16 pre-specified
random locations. ESC to end this kind of game.
No-regeneration: when you die you stay dead. Pressing the primary fire button
or ESC will exit to the kill screen, where you must wait for all other players
to exit. The game continues until all players abort, there are no teams left,
or there is one team left (one player in the case of non-team play)
1.3.1.2 Arming
If you joined a game in progress you can only select your chassis and your
reactor/shield generator. Otherwise you can equip your runner however you like
dependent on the voted upon weapons level. Note that you will lose all these
weapons when you die, so in a regeneration game you are really dictating what
weapons will be available in that anarchy game. (ie. if no one arms with a
nuke, unless there is always a nuke on that map then there will never be one).
Arming in anarchy games has one extra feature: the ability to load and save
runner configurations. eg. you can have a saved chassis for heavy weapons,
heavy runner where you don't have to manually outfit your Shiva with level 3
generators, level 3 shields, a nuke, heavy plasma, etc. The game watches to
make sure you have the right weapons available and the right chassis selected
(ie. if you are loading a Shiva saved configuration you should have your Shiva
selected).
1.3.1.3 Weapons on the Map
There is generally no such thing as 'respawning weapons'. If there are two
210mm howitzers in the game, then there will only ever be two 210mm howitzers
in the game and they will move around as people pick them up and get
killed/drop them. So when a player dies, all carried weapons will be dropped
at that location. There are only a few exceptions to this:
- light lasers always disappear when dropped
- small rockets disappear if dropped with a low amount of ammo. In earlier
versions, small rockets only disappeared if dropped with 0 ammo however it was
discovered in 16-player 'frag-fests' the map quickly became littered with
small rocket packets (18Packs). This is a sort of population control and it is
likely in many games you will still find plenty of small rocket packs
scattered across the map
- non-rechargeable weapons with 0 ammo are restocked and randomly repositioned
on the map. So (unless you are playing with unlimited ammo), a nuke will
always be randomly repositioned when dropped after being fired (since it only
has 1 ammo) - but a 70mm gattling gun will not be restocked/repositioned until
the very last shot is gone (and a rechargeable energy weapon will never be
repositioned).
NOTE: two types of areas tend to become littered with weapons. Heavy combat
areas tend to become littered (especially with small rocket packs) since so
many players get killed there and very few people have the opportunity to
actually pickup weapons. The other type of area is unfrequented areas.
Randomly repositioned weapons slowly collect in these areas because they are
so out of the way no one wanders by to pick up the guns. It can be quite a
chore on some map to find the nuke that you *know* someone brought in and has
not been seen in a while.
1.3.1.4 Scores
Scores are fairly simple. You get 1 point for killing an enemy and lose 1
point for killing a teammate (including yourself). When you look at the kills
screen you will see a plethora of information. First there is a grid indexed
by killer (row) and killed (column) so you can see how many times you killed
each player. The vertical totals are total number of times a player has been
killed (self-kills are not -1 in this case), and horizontal totals are the
total number of times you have killed another player (minus team-kills).
Furthermore, in team-play there is a second total on the far right which is
the total points your team has.
NOTE: total kills/deaths are not a total versus current playing players. They
are an accumulated total over time in that anarchy game so may be a little
higher than the total kills versus current playing players (the grid).
STREAKS: The top three kills and killed streaks are recorded. Kills streaks
are the largest # of kills in a row a player has gained before getting killed,
and killed streaks is the largest # of times a player has been killed before
actually getting a kill. They are updated not as the streak accumulates, but
rather when the streak finally ends. This information is not distributed to
players joining a game so may be inconsistent across systems.
1.3.2 Team Anarchy
This type of Anarchy game allows specific teams to be set before the game
begins. Again computer players can be added before the game starts and can
either player with or against human players. One type of game we recommend is
humans vs. the computers - team two or three humans against ten computer and
watch the fireworks. Similarly it is fun to try a single player game with 16
runners: you and a group of computer players vs the rest. The only world that
you can play Anarchy on is World 4.
This functions the same as regular anarchy except the scores are calculated a
little different (each teach has a total which is the total of all its
members, and you lose 1 point each time you kill a teammate).
1.3.3 Co-op
Co-op stands for cooperative missions. This signifies humans working together
to play through the standard single player missions. Few things change with
multiple players playing through the single player missions : there are still
mission goals, there is still a story with mission branching, there are more
enemies to destroy. We really recommend trying the game this way - there's
nothing like four or five friends taking on a huge battalion of aliens with a
variety of Runners armed with Plasma Cannons, IR Missiles, Mortars and Nukes.
And there's nothing like a huge squad of allied runners mobbing towards the
approaching pack of aliens. True Co-op can only be played on World 1. It is
pointless to play non-team Co-op on world 5 since there are generally no
computer controlled bots (beyond things like supply convoys).
Caution: Co-op has one major functional difference from single player. In
single player you are free to abort the mission (and save your runner) at any
point simply by hitting escape. In co-op play, to avoid abuse and make it more
realistic (and to prevent people from escaping just before dying in team-coop)
you must be 'Safe' before you can hit ESC to abort the mission and save your
bot. Otherwise, you must eject by typing EJECT or hitting CTRL-X (and you will
lose your runner and equipment).
'Safe' is defined as there are no enemies (red blips) in your radar, so you
may have to do some cleanup or (most likely) high-tail it to some corner of
the map. The justification is that what is actually happening when you exit is
that a dropship comes down and picks you up (unfortunately, this was not coded
- but will be for a future sequel). If there are enemies nearby, the dropship
refuses to risk itself for some mercenary.
Loading Games:
The first player in an co-op game is designated as the 'Game Master'. When a
game is loaded if you are not the game master only the saved chassis and
equipment is loaded and the active missions are not altered. If the game
master loads a game, this changes everyone's active missions. This is
something to remember since if you are the game master and in the last mission
you lost your best runner and best weapons and you only have an old saved game
from which to get them back you may end up making everyone replay an old
mission (ie. save often if you are prone to munchkinism).
Note you are able to load a save game from any type of multi-player game (even
single player). Also note if you try to load a save game from a later point,
you will only be able to load runners that are actually available by the
mission you are on (so you can't easily cheat).
Saving Games:
When you get destroyed you lose both your runner and all its equipment. Since
multi-player missions can get quite difficult (especially as the number of
participating players increases) you may want to save often (ie. once per
mission). This way if you die and you want to you can reload your equipment
and runner and replay the mission. However, if you are the game master and you
died but the mission was won this is not suggested (ie. accept your loss)
since reloading would force a replay of that (likely) difficult mission. When
you load a game it will inform all other players via your chat, so you can
keep an eye on your opponents and know if they are using this feature. If you
want to be a die-hard gamer and try a real challenge, see how far you can get
without reloading. By the way, you are automatically resupplied with two Gnats
when you run out of runners (now you know how to defeat the Mantis!)
Movies: there are no movies played in multi-player games. You'll simply have
to finish those missions without help.
1.3.4 Team Co-op
Team Co-op represents some of the more interesting game possibilities that are
present in Shattered Steel. In one instance you are able to join the alien
side in the actual single player missions and try and stop your human enemies
from completing missions.
World 5 has twenty specific missions with opposing goals for two teams: the
MegaCorps and the Northern Atlantic Socialist Concordant. These missions pit
two teams of human players directly against each other. The missions have
directly opposing goals, such as, Team A - destroy the convoy and Team B -
escort the convoy. These missions have interesting story to match the exciting
gameplay. They are also full of equipment inside the mission and the winning
team for each mission gets a lot of good new equipment and a team point. These
missions are optimal with at least 4 players.
World 1 Team Co-op allows for two teams, one team (Good) are the standard
human Planet Runner pilots who are dropping in to destroy the Aliens; the
other team (Evil) joins the alien invaders and works against the goals of the
Good team. For example, in the convoy mission in world 1 the evil team must
first try to stop the convoy and then try to destroy the base. Like in World 5
the winning team gets the equipment rewarded for that mission.
Since, especially in World 1, the game can get hung up on a mission where the
Evil team wins it far too easily (the prison mission is an example), no matter
what happens the mission is incremented and a score is kept for each side,
Good and Evil. So it ends up being a contest where the team with the most wins
gets the bragging rights.
1.4 Computer Players and Their Use
Computer players can add a lot of excitement to Anarchy missions when there
are only a 1-2 human combatants available. You can add them as needed. If you
are playing a team game you can increment their team by right clicking on
them; or, you can select them with the left click and choose their team and
vote as usual. You can put them on your team, on another team, or simply play
straight anarchy and let them fend for themselves. In team play they are smart
enough to not attack teammates.
Once you have started the game the computer players are completely independent
(and quite dangerous if they get a lock on you).
1.5 Kali and Shattered Steel
We're been working on making Shattered Steel more Kali friendly and have made
a couple changes to improve gameplay. Shattered Steel already uses an internal
compensation method for slow packet transfer rates and thus should be fairly
fast even with slow connections. The asynchronous nature and interpolation
should make it run better although you may notice that sometimes it takes
longer to kill an opponent than normal.
We have addressed a problem regarding timeout by using a command line
parameter (that can also be placed in the SSTEEL.INI file). The -timeout #
command allows you to set the number of seconds that Timeouts start at. The
original Shattered Steel was set at 10 seconds but we found that this timed
out during login of Kali and when slow computers were involved. Thus we've
increased the default timeout to 20 seconds. You can increase(decrease) it
with commands like, -timeout 30 - this will increase the timeout to 30
seconds. Note this is only the timeout value your system will use, if you have
put a large timeout value the other players in the game should probably put a
similar one (although it is not required).
Caution: putting a large value is not necessarily a good thing, since it takes
that long for your system to realize another player has timed out. eg. you all
launch, and for some reason one of the players crashes. You have to wait 'x'
seconds before he is timed out and the game can continue.
1.6 Common Network Problems and Solutions
(To be filled in)
The engine is fairly self-correcting which helps, but sometimes a network game
may become unsynchronized - in which case restarting the mission or restarting
the network game is an extreme way to fix the problem.
We have also observed a problem under Win95 with some network cards(?) where
one system will suddenly lose the connection to the rest of the game, or will
stop receiving packets but will continue sending (this can cause all sorts of
havoc). Running the game from pure DOS with DOS IPXODI drivers may help.
Though we try to ensure that two players don't play the same multi-player game
with different missions, it is possible for some data to be inconsistent and
for the game to not catch it. You should ensure that no one is playing with an
edited mission, or at least make sure everyone has the same edited mission.
1.7 Using Multiple Sockets for Multiple Simultaneous Games
For a large network or for games using Kali users will want to change socket
numbers. Access the [Options] section on the main multi-player menu, this
should give you a screen with a Socket # box in the top right corner of the
screen. You can change the socket number with the buttons provided - changing
the socket number will cause games not to "see" each other as the addresses
are unique. Thus using this method you can play multiple games on the same
network or Kali server. Shattered Steel limits games to the socket range 6900h
- 6999h (h means these are hexadecimal values).
You can also use the command-line parameter '-socket x' to specify socket
offset x which can save you from changing it manually in the Options screen.
eg. '-socket 11' (this actually uses 6911h). The valid range for x is 0 - 99
(note that these are actually hex values so if you wanted to feel special you
use '-socket 1f'.)
1.8 Customizations in the SSTEEL.INI file
The SSTEEL.INI file is a text file that can be edited either by EDIT the
completely amazing DOS text editing program or the Windows95 Notepad. Make
sure that whatever you edit the file with saves it in plain text format. Every
option should be on its own separate line in this file.
Here are the current commands that can be put in the SSTEEL.INI file or used
as command-line parameters:
COMMAND: EFFECT:
-window windowed movies rather than full screen
-nocd Turn off CD audio
-nopoll Turn off CD polling
-socket x use socket 'x' for IPX games (range 0-99)
-handle blah set your handle to 'blah' (max 8 characters)
-netgame jump immediately to IPX game
-timeout x set opponent timeout to 'x' (default is 20, min 10)
Clearly, options like -socket and -netgame are more suited for use as
command-line parameters, while options like -handle are more suited for
inclusion in the SSTEEL.INI file. Here is a sample SSTEEL.INI:
-window
-handle MrGumby
2. Custom Missions
Very shortly the mission editor will be released. Additionally we will be
releasing a patch to Shattered Steel that will support easy loading of the
missions made by the mission editor. This section details a quick summary of
the methods used to play Custom missions. Essentially you end up going to the
voting screen and voting for World 6 (in a co-op game), the World 6 vote will
only be available if you have a WORLD_6 directory which contains the standard
planet files like the other world directories (they should be placed there by
the editor). In case you need to know: PLANET.PCX, PLANET.PAL and MISDESC.TXT
are the files that are needed.
2.1 Starting a Single Player Custom Mission
With the new patch that will be available shortly players will be able to
easily add and play missions that they create.
The process of starting a custom mission is a little different from normal
single player missions - you have to access the section via a button on the
multi-player screen. The button at the bottom of the screen previously read
[Single Player Anarchy] - it should now read [Single Player Game]. Click on
this to access the single player voting screen (it will look identical to the
multi-player voting screen). From here you should click on Co-op and then
increment the World indicator up to World 6 - this is the world on which the
single player custom mission occur. Once you have done this submit your vote
and you will be sent to the drop ship.
On the dropship the procedure is just like playing World 1.
2.2 Starting a Multi-Player Custom Mission
The same as above, except as usual you would click on Login To Network Game or
Serial Game, choose Co-op, vote World 6. Note that all involved players should
have the same world 6 missions.