Beta Anti-Gravity Belt

Hi.

Well, as you may have read on this site already, we stopped production for Chaos for UT3, and of course online player numbers for UT3 remain low. So as far as the ChaosUT3 mod itself, not much has really changed since our last news post on this site.

However, some folks like myself still get the urge to play from time to time, we just don’t really prefer the style of play that you find in vanilla UT3 (and for me personally, especially CTF/VCTF, which are my favorite game types). But as time goes by, more and more mutators are being created, and some of them bring some very nice gameplay improvements.

With that in mind, we are now running a UT3 VCTF server. So no, it is not a ‘Chaos mod’ server, it simply attempts to combine a few mutators that other folks have created to help make UT3 VCTF a bit more enjoyable. Just to help pass the time, and get some use out of the game we bought (of course you can still play ChaosUT2 as well ;p ).

The server info:

Server Name = CarryTheFlag
Password = cut3
IP = 66.55.142.67:7777

It should be visible in the UT3 server browser under VCTF, or you can copy/paste this into your console:

open 66.55.142.67:7777?password=cut3

This server is running the Carry The Flag mutator, which is being coded for UT3 by [Apoc]Death. This style of CTF was first introduced to the UT series by a guy named Versix back in the first UT, and was also how ChaosUT2 CTF was played. The ChaosUT2 version was a bit different than the Versix version, but the main point was the same… meaning you cannot simply touch your dropped flag in order to have it returned to your base, you must actually pick it up and carry it back. Speaking for myself, this is how every version of CTF/VCTF should work in FPS shooters today. And even though it’s not currently being created by Chaotic Dreams, it’s still a welcome addition anytime it’s done.

I would like to thank [Apoc]Death ( www.apoc.org ) for allowing us to help play-test his mutator on our server. It is still in development, and is not considered finished yet, but it is working very well. It is certainly playable, without any crashes or anything nasty like that.

And to help bring some more of that old ChaosCTF feel, we are also running ClassicVCTF, by Xyx, which means you can carry the flags in ground vehicles. This too was a much needed improvement to the vanilla VCTF of UT3, and thanks to Xyx for making it available.

And to make it even more ‘Chaos-y’, we have included an as yet unfinished Chaos Anti-Gravity Belt, that was coded for ChaosUT3 by MonsOlympus. It’s unfortunate that the whole mod was not finished, but this beta Belt is somewhat playable, so we’ve added it for you to check out. Who knows, maybe somebody will enjoy it, and help me prod Mons into finishing it up.

For those not familiar with what an Anti-Gravity Belt is, you can read about it in our Chaos for UT2004 docs, right here.

You will have the Belt automatically when you join the server, and every time you respawn. It has an energy counter on your screen (looks like the Beserk counter for now) which slowly counts down as the Belt is in use. And you can turn it on and off at will throughout the match. It recharges itself when not in use.

For the time being anyway, in order to use the Anti-Gravity Belt, you must type this into the console at the beginning of each map:

setbind x mutate useitem

This allows you to toggle the Belt on and off. And of course you can change “x” to any key you want. Hopefully future updates will allow you to set a permanent keybind.

This is a Beta build of the Anti-Gravity Belt, it is not perfect. Occasionally it will stop working, but will work again next time you get fragged. It also doesn’t have a sound yet, or any visual trail, but at least you can float. If you find any more problems with it, feel free to tell us all about it.

In order to further enhance the gameplay of UT3, we are also running these fine mutators;

Camera Control – so you can scroll camera view while in vehicles
BattleMod – this gives us fast weapon switch, and UT2k4-style dodgejump
Allow Player Alias – so you can change your nick to whatever you want
Win_Dex – removes some of the ‘name tags’ over player’s heads
No Deployables – removes deployable pickups (SpiderMine traps, EMPs, etc)
Vehicle Replacer – no more invisible vehicles

And these custom VCTF maps:

Canal Warfare LE
CBP3-Artemisa
CBP3-Refuge
CBP3-The Dig
Hanging Gardens
Infection Forest SEV2
Silverpoint
Megastructure SE
Off The Rails LE
Slax ][
Wastelands

This thread at Epic forums has links to these maps. Let us know if you can’t find one, or if you want to add another one.
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=666785

We may make changes and/or additions to the server from time to time, and the most up-to-date info will be found in this forum thread;
http://forums.chaoticdreams.org/viewtopic.php?t=6394

Thanks!