SaintSaturday

Personally, I hate, hate, and hate that most discussions on the internet moved from individual forums to Discord. Discord has its place as an instant communication tool, but all the useful (and easy to find) information is slipping away from the netizens' fingers. Now, it's all in the hands of the Discord servers, and external archival (and web search) is not possible anymore.

As of 26 February, 2024, this game (and the official launcher) currently works perfectly for me on Linux Mint 21.3 Edge, on an NVIDIA GTX 1050. I ran the normal Totem Arts Launcher from the Downloads page through the flatpak version of Bottles (settings displayed below) and the game both installed and plays fine on Linux, after installing some dependencies. There don't seem to be any visual glitches, and my launcher/game settings are saved without any problems. I do get the occasional crash on some map switches, but I notice I'm not the only one (as when I reconnect the server lost like 50% of players), so I am not sure this is a WINE issue. Though before the game actually launches, I get a message saying UDK.exe cannot be started, and it asks me if I want to view detailed information about the issue or not. I click NO (two times) and the game starts anyway. I am VERY glad the game works on Linux, because I got rid of my Windows install, and I'm not a fan of frequent dual-booting. I use Bottles (v51.11, the Flatpak version) to play the game, and wine-ge-proton8-26 as the WINE Runner for the Bottle. The Bottle was created using the Gaming preset, and it's set to Windows 10. The following settings (mostly the default settings) are set to ON: Discrete Graphics, Feral GameMode, Mouse Warp, Window Manager Decorations. Also, the Synchronization is set to Fsync. The following dependencies (and the UE3 redistributable) are installed in the Bottle. I assume it wouldn't work without these: -d3dx9 -msls31 -d3dcompiler_43 -d3dcompiler_47 -d3dx11 -mono (Wine mono) -gecko (Wine gecko) -dotnetcoredesktop3 -dotnetcore3 -dotnet35 -dotnet35sp1 -dotnet40 -dotnet45 -dotnet452 -dotnet46 -dotnet461 -dotnet462 -dotnet472 -dotnet48 -dotnetcoredesktop6 -vcredist2005 -vcredist2008 -vcredist2010 -vcredist2012 -vcredist2013 -vcredist2015 -vcredist2019

Well, that's unfortunate that the tools for the bots are so limited in UE3. I'm happy there are bots in the first place, as opposed to no bots at all. But if at least something could be done to fix the pathing (take all routes available) before all updates to RenX end, that'd be great. I think that's the #1 issue they have now. I don't know how hard it would be to fix that, since I never used UE3. Anyway, I think before all updates end, the bots deserve a bit more love, since they'll be the only ones left to play against after everyone moves on.

I know you guys are working on the new game, that's the main focus. So, I'm worried that Renegade X will stop receiving important updates after Firestorm is launched, and that the bots will remain as stupid as they are now in Renegade X. The bots currently (and seemingly) have no tactics, on some maps they only take direct routes and completely ignore longer paths, they get stuck, they aren't amazing combatants or drivers, and so on. I feel like fixing some basic issues to make them fun to play against shouldn't be too hard, as in, nobody expects them to be on the level of an experienced player. They just need to be good at the most basic tasks. Right now, they just sort of mindlessly march forward. Take a look at Enemy Territory: Quake Wars' bots. They are beatable by an experienced player, but can still offer a fun challenge. Most importantly, they simulate how real players would play the game, meaning that they have some basic tactics to follow. They are good drivers and shooters, they take longer paths as well, hunt harassers who camp, taunt, use all in-game items well, and generally try to accomplish some important objective and assist the player, all while not getting stuck all the time. Heck, UT2004/UT3 are also great examples (though the wallhacking is stupid). Renegade X is a free game, so I really, really want to make it clear that my post is not a demand, cause I seriously appreciate what you guys have done. This is just a strong wish/suggestion of mine that I'd like to put out there, as I sometimes like to screw around with bots, especially when there are no/few players on. Plus, the game will die at some point, and it would be very cool to simulate the RenX experience alone in the future. I'm no seasoned Renegade X player, but I think the most important and simple three changes bots could benefit from are: 1. Don't just take direct routes to objectives, try to take longer paths 2. Never idle around, always have an objective or assist a bot with an objective 3. Change priorities accordingly if the enemy team keeps repeating their actions