rotorz connector

[shygirl4]

R C the full story

R C (rotorz connector) is the programme that all serious dune2000 on-line players use , it connects players together in multiplayer internet games , games are not possible on-line without this programme. here is the story behind R C by the programmer who wrote wrote it.

ROTORZ CONNECTOR

shy: why did you write rc ?

rotorz:: to fix problems existing with dune... nobody else would or could do it.

shy: how long did rc take to write ?

rotorz:: there were two major versions of RC. One required all players to have RC, and I think after 0.85 only host had to have it. Programming took less than two hours.

shy: briefly what does rc 8.7 do ?

rotorz:: I'm guessing you mean 0.87. It might have been the first version to make it so only host has to use it. Its a proxy program that makes the dune server think there is an extra player (that does not exist) involved in the game. Under normal dune playing, the last player would get dropped from the game. In this version it would not drop a real player because it would have dropped the player that never existed.

shy: what does the 9.1 update patch add ?

rotorz: There are some functions that would have been nice to have in the original version. Such as a friends list, and a list of people you would rather not play. It also included things like bad language filter which no longer apply to dune2k since there is not a real bot moderator.

shy: are there any bugs in rc ?

rotorz: In versions before 0.91 yes. 0.91 is as good as it gets as I know it.

shy: are there any side affects to using rc ?

rotorz: It could cause chat or game lobbies to lag. But not games themselves.

shy: does rc 9.1 work with other Westwood games ?

rotorz: I don't know, I don't have any other WW games, nor do I plan to buy any ever again.

THE NEW RELEASE

shy: I know rc is about to be superseded with a brand new patch and this is being tested right now,(i`m one of the fortunate players who are testing it) what will the new patch be called ?

rotorz: There is no name fo the current version. Its just an update to existing files.

shy: what is the expected release date ?

rotorz: soon , Its a hex edit. It doesn't do anything exciting.... Except allow people who couldn't use RC before to run as normal

shy: will the new patch be available for free download ?

rotorz: Was there ever a charge for anything I have done? If I needed money for supporting dune2000 I'd probably starve !

shy: how will the new patch be different from the rc patch ?

rotorz: there will be no install. It will be like running dune out of the box. No added features, dune as it was expected to be. Unfortunately it will not be able to fix the problem where dune does not allow the 7 or less letter nicks. I am sure that WW is antagonizing these problems, which was not included in this interview, so I will save those comments for another day.

shy: will the new patch have any extra options , like the away feature in rc ?

rotorz: No, it will be dune2000 as usual

shy: how is the testing going ?

rotorz:: So far, no complaints.

shy: what will the new patch do ?

rotorz:: Just connect games.

CHEATS

shy: as a programmer no one knows more about dune 2000 than you , can you put these myths to rest once and for all , do cheats work on-line ?

rotorz: yes , but only minor cheats , like sight cheat

shy: how can I tell if someone is cheating ?

rotorz: Complicated question. Some cheats work online, but nothing more than sight cheats. At least for long. You can get away with more cheats in a 1vs1 environment than you can in a 2v2 or FFA. Of course some cheating is always allowed through bugs, but I have never found anything substantial. I think the biggest cheat I can get away with is building on sand (BOS). Of course this allows me to build in your base, or base area which would definitely be wrong.

shy: is there a way to stop players using cheats ?

rotorz: Most cheats report out of sync. Only way to tell if somebody has something better is to report stats to me.

CONNECTION PROBLEMS

shy: I heard that you will be writing a FAQ covering everything from firewalls to routers , is this true ?

rotorz:: I wouldn't mind helping with this FAQ, but I don't want to write it by myself. Its true that duen2k does NOT run with most routers because it uses UDP rather than the accepted TCP/IP standards. I think most people will have to connect outside their routers for this to work in the future.

shy: what is the expected release date of the FAQ ?

rotorz: Before Feb 2004.

[scotsman]

Pity they can,t build into the script for RC a way to stop any Dune mods from playing. I'm sure I've played online with people with that sight cheat.

Great post.

Thanks.