A Couple Of Questions

UnderDOG · April 2003

First batch : lerks IVe been lerk a few games but theres i few things i dont know/understand

1st: how much damage does the bite actully do? ive heard both 50 and 75

2nd: I know that while in umbra 1/6 or 1/7 of the bullets hit you, but what if someone is inbtween umbra and a marine? Umbra |
|
V
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>. ......................... ".-,:','; ......................... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>. ............................ ".-,:'_:;......................... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>. .............................;".,";_;'..................... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>

now, the skulks arnt actully IN the umbra, but the marine have to shoot though it to hit the skulks, do they take reduced bullets or not?

3rd: for the lerks spike shooter, does it hit where the crosshair is or where the spikes appear to hit, ive heard both

4th: Spore, how do you aim them?

5th: are observaoties needed to do scans? Ive heard both that yes they do and no they dont, and im sure which is true.

6th:Other than adjusting HL gamma and my monitors brightness (both allready at full) is there anyway to brighten the game. A large portion of maps have places that are too dark to see ANYTHING in and i have to just feel my way out along the walls

MaTT · April 2003

Im not sure on the lerk bite damage question but i know you have to be actually IN the Umbra for it to protect you...

Nice ascii art btw! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

3rd: Spikes are hitscan which in HL terms means an instant hit. You have to aim at the crosshair and NOT where the spikes land! Counter-Intuitive if you ask me.... (Fix it flay! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>)

4th: aim it at the feet of the marines or at a wall near them!

5th: not sure...

6th: This game is meant to be scary and dark for atmospheric reasons...

MMZ_Torak · April 2003

1: Bite damage is the same for both lerk and skulk IIRC.

2: It is my belief that Umbra will protect you if the umbra is between you and the attacking marines, you do not have to be "in" the cloud.

5: Yes they need and Obs to do scans but they do not lose Motion Tracking if the Obs is destroyed.

UnderDOG · April 2003

ok cool so even if my spikes LOOK liek they are hitting the floor if my crosshairs are on the turret they will hit it?

also im not talking about kinda dark, im talking about pure ink in alot of maps where i can see nothing at at all on alot of them, for example i cant play on bast as 70% of the map is pure black. Ive seen NS on friends computer and its not as near as dark as what i have to play with. Same thing with screens that flay has posted, i wish my ns were that bright. Anyone know of a console command or something that could help it?

edit: hmmm, conflicting reports on umbra

Melkor · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (UnderDOG @ Apr 10 2003, 02:10 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> First batch : lerks IVe been lerk a few games but theres i few things i dont know/understand

1st: how much damage does the bite actully do? ive heard both 50 and 75

2nd: I know that while in umbra 1/6 or 1/7 of the bullets hit you, but what if someone is inbtween umbra and a marine? Umbra |
|
V
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>. ......................... ".-,:','; ......................... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>. ............................ ".-,:'_:;......................... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'>. .............................;".,";_;'..................... <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>

now, the skulks arnt actully IN the umbra, but the marine have to shoot though it to hit the skulks, do they take reduced bullets or not?

3rd: for the lerks spike shooter, does it hit where the crosshair is or where the spikes appear to hit, ive heard both

4th: Spore, how do you aim them?

5th: are observaoties needed to do scans? Ive heard both that yes they do and no they dont, and im sure which is true.

6th:Other than adjusting HL gamma and my monitors brightness (both allready at full) is there anyway to brighten the game. A large portion of maps have places that are too dark to see ANYTHING in and i have to just feel my way out along the walls  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
2. You must be in the umbra. If in umbra is at the bottom of the screen you're protected, other wise you arn't

3.Projectile hits where crosshair is instantly.

4. Spores are hitscan but not. They hit exactly where your crosshair was when you fired, but they take a second or two to appear. Best bet for aiming if you can't get a direct hit on the marine or a structure near the marines is to shoot the floor at their feet, or hit the wall they are nearest.

6. You have to adjust your gamma through your monitor I think. Go to ns under the start menu; There is a utility in their for adjusting gamma to the right levels.

DoADrunkMonkey · April 2003

the hitscan on spikes are real cool.

sit on top of refinary rifts and i shoot down at a turret, i see the splash as the spikes hit on the raft and their is nothing in between me and the tuuret THEN. the turret dissapears in a puff of smoke <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

Zel · April 2003

that utility only shows you the proper setting to be scary and not too dark. his monitor is too dark when at the brightest settings, all i can tell you underDOG is to get a new monitor, your is probably very old and burned out.

also try a utility called powerstrip ( <a href='http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm</a> ) it has some fancy video settings that you can try to brighten it further. some people like to use it to cheat their brightness so much that nothing is dark at all, but you genuinely need it.

coil · April 2003

To hopefully clarify the conflicting reports here, these are the correct answers:

1) Lerk and Skulk bite are both 75 damage.

2) You must be inside the cloud. You will see "In Umbra" at the bottom of your screen. Umbra blocks 5/6 bullets.

3) The damage, unlike the visual effect, is instant and hits in the center of your crosshair. The disagreement between the damage and the effect will be fixed in 1.1, though I don't know which will be corrected to match the other.

4) Spores "explode" wherever your crosshair hits anything solid (floor, wall, ceiling, player, building, etc).

5) Yes, you must have an observatory to do scanner sweeps.

6) Sounds like you need a new monitor. /: Try Zel's suggestion.

Jower · April 2003

You beat me to looking all cool and allknowing coil....
hehe

MMZ_Torak · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>2) You must be inside the cloud. You will see "In Umbra" at the bottom of your screen. Umbra blocks 5/6 bullets.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

This does not sound logical,

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> <span style='color:orange'> ::::Umbra Cloud:::</span> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif'>

means the umbra does not stop a single bullet because the gorge is not "in" the cloud but behind it? Do not the bullets still have to travel through the cloud?

Jower · April 2003

Yes...
This is a game remember ?
You don't tell half-life "I WANT ALIENS THAT SHOOT EACH OTHER !"
You code it !

Zel · April 2003

tracking your bullets position as they fly to see if they go inside of the cloud would lag intensely. especially with fast things like the HMG. it is not a feasable option for NS servers.

MMZ_Torak · April 2003

I can believe and accept that, but it doesn't seem to hold true with my experience. This calls for some testing!

Deactivated · April 2003

for question #6:

My monitor was Maxed out too and still was way too dark. So Much , that playing on ns_nancy as marine, It was pitch black in the base and most of the map. Made finding the Armory interesting <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'> Ns_bast was also so dark most of the time I was just guessing where to shoot without being able to see anything. It was very frustrating.

I don't know if you have access to it, but I fixed my problem by using Adobe Gamma which came with Photoshop. It works very well, but make sure you run the optimal gamma test that comes with NS and adjust your gamma correctly or things may end up washed out and too bright which ruins the creepy atmosphere of the game, and may be considered an exploit by some.

DizzyOne · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (MMZ>Torak @ Apr 10 2003, 03:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>2) You must be inside the cloud. You will see "In Umbra" at the bottom of your screen. Umbra blocks 5/6 bullets.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

This does not sound logical,

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> <span style='color:orange'> ::::Umbra Cloud:::</span> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif'>

means the umbra does not stop a single bullet because the gorge is not "in" the cloud but behind it? Do not the bullets still have to travel through the cloud?  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
its called gameplay <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

Altho I would also like it the other way around... :sigh:

Jabba_The_Hunt · April 2003

I know for my monitor I have to turn the brightness quite a way up to stop everything looking black, however this makes everything look "pasty", I found out that If I then put the contrast all the way up this reduces the "pasty" effect, so you might want to try your contrast on max and see how your brightness effects things then.

coil · April 2003

Of course it'd be nice if Umbra stopped bullets going through it.

...And as soon as you code it, Flayra will add it. q:

Madjai · April 2003

wow, i just assumed bullets affected umbra and not the alien inside of it... thats kinda sucky.

so when im trying to use umbra to block damage to the hive i should always just fly into the bottom of the hive and then umbra instead of flying say infront of it?

UnderDOG · April 2003

ok zel, ill try that when i get home

btw the monitor im using is actully very new, under 2 months

my old one died, and i had to get a new one, and the new one is dark

MaTT · April 2003

p.s. if your gamma is screwed then mess around with the gamma and lightgamma cvars. Find the best settings and then place them in your autoexec.cfg otherwise you will need to enter them each time you play.

BlueTorpeedo · April 2003

<b><span style='color:orange'>GAMMA PROBLEMS...</span></b>

There are 3 places to fix gamma, the monitor, in game (I think that that gamma is software only, I think), and your video setting in the display control panel (usually). You should check for all three. Also, try both openGL and Direct3D. Ive also noticed that alot of video cards look much darker on XP and win2000 (my voodoo3 for example). Makes sure you have newest drivers and all aswell. If all this STILL DOESNT work you can try a favorite little program of mine called PowerStrip. It lets you do all sorts of crazy stuff like video card overclocking and modifying your monitor settings. Im not sure if its shareware anymore, but that may help as well. To be honest Im not completely sure it lets you change video gamma (I dont use it anymore, that was "2 PC's" ago) but do a goggle search and find out. As a last resort, try using a program called 3Deep. It supposed to modify your gamma for 3d games if you cant get it the way you want it any other way.

Infact, try 3Deep BEFORE powerstrip, as it was made specifcally for gamma.
There is also software called "Coloriffic" that does the same thing but for colors.
<a href='http://www.colorific.com/' target='_blank'>3deep webpage</a>

from the site~
<i>"Colorific® and 3Deep® provide unique and powerful benefits for PC users, whether it's getting the most out of your monitor/printer or your favorite PC game.Colorific is for color calibrating and color matching. It creates a starting point for color management within a user's system. 3Deep allows the user to make changes to the system gamma, a important feature in the gaming world, enabling the player to see the game as the creator intended."</i>

3Deep should be freeware.

BTW, make sure you are using the correct Display driver for your monitor

UnderDOG · April 2003

TY everyone! 3deep almost completely fixed my problem,the only thing is its a 60 day trail, but mabey i can find a cracked verison oin kazaa or something

Ph0enix · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Umbra doesn't 'block' bullets... The nano-bac in the Umbra cloud latch onto Kharaa skin forming a short lived (and not entirely perfect) reflec armour layer.

If you're not in the umbra cloud, then it's not forming that layer.

There you go. Makes perfect sense to me <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

joev</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

That's joevs fluff reason for umbra not blocking bullets going thru it. Sounds good to me <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

MMZ_Torak · April 2003

Yup, I was mistaken. Guess I should play in a less altered state. Time for a "0mg fix0r teh Umbr4!!~!~!@22" post.

j/k <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

FireStorm · April 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (coil @ Apr 11 2003, 12:09 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> ...And as soon as you code it, Flayra will add it. q:  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
OK !!!

lol

(but give me the umbra source code before <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>)

BlueTorpeedo · April 2003

I have a full version of 3Deep, but its from back in 1998. I could perhaps send it to you. It would probably work. You may be able to upgrade that version to a current version that would not have a 30 day trial.

BTW, alot of demos that have trials store that crap in the registry to keep track of when it was installed. Sometimes you can alter it or delete it from the registry to prevent it from expiring.

Heres my copy:
<a href='http://pie.keene.edu/students/rfall/3deep.zip' target='_blank'>3deep 3.0 installer</a>

A Couple Of Questions

Comments