The following is a list of bugs discovered in v1.010 of the PC game (many of which weren't fixed in v1.020, v1.030, v1.040, or v1.042), new bugs introduced by the v1.020, v1.040, and v1.042 patches, and a feature wish list consisting of wishes from the author, and those collected from users on various message boards.
In case you're wondering which version of
you currently have on the PC, note that the version number can be seen on the main menu on the bottom right, or the top right side of the screen under the title.Bugs in v1.010
I'm on the Main Processing Core level, and I can't lower the force field!
I'm on the Main Processing Core level, and I keep falling off the elevator!
Unfortunately, you will have to wait for this to be fixed in a future patch. It wasn't addressed in the v1.042 patch.
My disc keeps disappearing, in Thorne's Chamber Core!
Message Boards pointed out that this happens when either the Disc Cluster or Sequencer subroutine is installed in Jet's memory. Remove them both, and then try to use your disc again. (You may need to add and remove the subroutines, repeatedly.) The disc should eventually come back. If not, you'll need to load the autosave for this level, and make sure you remove the Cluster and Sequencer subroutines from memory, before the Kernel drops down to the ground.Let's hope a future patch fixes this nasty problem. It still hasn't been addressed, as of v1.042!
There's an Archive Bin on the Primary Docking Port level, that if I go to, I can't get back from!
There's an interesting bug/cheat that can be used on the final Digitizing Stream level . . .
The game starts to crash a lot, once I reach the fCon levels!
- The author has experienced this problem. The game crashes on a fairly frequent basis, once you reach the fCon levels. It seems to happen most often, when you are fighting DataWraiths.
One level in particular — Command Module — would consistently crash at the same point, where you enter the hall with the collapsing ceiling. (Large spire-like structures fall down and block your path.) Very annoying. In the case of this hallway in Command Module, it was almost as if there was a bad spot on the map. It seemed as though travelling down the far right side of the hallway always caused the game to crash.
This still hasn't been fixed, as of v1.042.
I've noticed some subroutines disappear, when I enter a new system!
- The author has noticed on rare occasions that when you enter a new system, and need to reconfigure the subroutines in your memory . . . not all the subroutines you previously had, will be shown. But after a while, when you return to the System Memory screen, they will re-appear. (No, I didn't forget you can scroll to extra unseen subroutines, using the arrows.)
When I connect to a server in Multiplayer, I get booted off!
-
There are six possibilities:
- Different language versions of the game are incompatible with each other, unless you install the v1.020 patch or later.
- Everyone must be running the same program version of the game, to play with each other online. Players with v1.010 must play others with v1.010, v1.020 players must play with v1.020, and v1.030 with v1.030. Of course, as time goes on, almost no one will be using the original version of the game, so you must install the latest update.
The v1.040 patch and later introduced a major new mode of Multiplayer game, called Derez and Team Derez (Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch), that will require you to update to v1.040 or later in order to play it.
- The server is using maps custom-made by fans of the game, and you don't have them. Since you won't be able to play when it's time to load a custom map, the server boots you. It's also possible that even if you have a particular map or mod, the sever is using a newer version and yours is out of date, so you still get the boot. Check for a newer version that you can download.
UPDATE: The v1.042 patch added an error message to let you know if you're missing a map that the server had.
- Your Serial Number has been "pirated". The Serial Number is checked, every time you start a Multiplayer game. If your number has already been used by someone else at a different IP address, you will always be kicked out. Contact Buena Vista Games, if you think your number has been stolen.
- Sometimes if you suddenly get disconnected or your game crashes, it takes a while for Gamespy's servers to register the fact that you went offline, and it gives you a message that says something about an invalid Serial Number. Just keep trying to Join an Internet Game.
- The server operator has banned you. This is probably because you didn't follow the rules the operator asked you to, so he booted you out.
During a Multiplayer Disc Arena Game, someone was able to use weapons other than the disc and blew me away!
- Unfortunately, there is an exploit that can be used to cheat in Multiplayer Disc Arena (and even Light Cycles), allowing you to use every weapon. It's extremely annoying. I won't tell you how to do it, in order to keep knowledge of the exploit from spreading even further than it already has.
Thankfully, the v1.030 patch and later versions, has fixed this!
In a Multiplayer Disc Arena or Tournament match, the Blue players' discs seem to travel faster than the other team colors!
- There have been a lot of reports, of Blue players' discs having a speed advantage. This has been fixed in the v1.030 patch, and later.
I have an ATI Radeon 7200 / 7500 / Mobility / 8500 / 9000 / 9100 / 9200 and the frame rate is really slow!
- A member of the Monolith team confirmed there's a bug in the game, on the Blue's News message boards. It affects a number of ATI cards based on older Radeon chips. This was fixed in the v1.030 patch and later. Interestingly, the author has had no problems on his Radeon 8500 based card.
I can't hear some, or even all of the sounds . . . for example speech and music!
- There seems to be an issue with environmental sound effects dropping out, speech becoming too quiet, and music sometimes not playing. At first it was believed to be a problem specific to users of the nForce 2 Chipset, using the built-in sound feature called the "SoundStorm" APU. But since then, it's also been reported by users of all types of Creative's Sound Blaster cards. The author can attest to this bug from first-hand experience.
Interestingly — though the author needs to confirm this with others — the environmental sounds don't always go "missing". It's just that the volume for them is set so low, that you can't hear them. If you increase the volume substantially, you should be able to hear the environment sounds, and characters speaking in the distance should be easier to hear. Of course, now everything else is far too loud! Hopefully an update, be it from BVI/Monolith or the sound card manufacturers, will be released to fix this. The v1.030 patch does not address the problem.
See the 9.5 Sound Problems section, for more information!
UPDATE: The solution for nForce 2 SoundStorm users has arrived! Download and install the nForce 3.13 Unified Drivers or later to solve all your sound problems!
The game doesn't remember the bindings I set for the buttons and axes, on my joystick or gamepad!
- There is definitely a bug in the game, where it forgets the changes you make to your control setup, on your joystick or gamepad. Hopefully, a future patch will fix this problem.
UPDATE: This seems to have been fixed with the v1.042 patch.
After I load a saved game a couple of times,
slows to a crawl!- This could be due to a bug in the game, causing what's called a "memory leak", where the game continues to use more and more memory until there isn't any left free and it starts using the Windows swap file. There was a similar bug in NOLF 2. This problem could be more likely to occur in Windows 98 or Me, because they aren't as good at handling memory resources as 2000 and XP. You will have to wait for another patch to fix it. The author hasn't personally experienced this problem, so it doesn't happen for everyone.
UPDATE: The v1.042 patch apparently fixed this problem, so it should no longer occur.
The game crashes or goes wonky, if I hit the Spacebar or F9 during light cycle matches!
- The F9 problem was addressed in the v1.030 patch. The Spacebar problem apparently has still not been addressed, however.
Sometimes in Multiplayer the Caps Lock key function is reversed, and I end up walking instead of running!
- If this happens, hit the T key to chat and then hit Caps Lock again before leaving chat mode. This will fix the reversed Caps Lock key problem.
Other Problems
- Occasionally, when you first start the game, it will minimize and go back to the desktop. Then no matter how often you try to restore, it will keep minimizing. The only solution the author found, was to reboot the computer.
- The game will start chugging, and crash to the desktop, sometimes. This particularly started happening during the fCon levels, in the author's case.
- There are unconfirmed reports, that changing your profile sometimes causes problems with the game, such as the glow no longer working? Seems unlikely, though. Check the 9.3 Crashes, Slowdowns, and Other Problems section, for some more information, on profiles potentially becoming corrupt.
- Typing the pipe | character as part of your saved game name, will cause the game to crash when you load it again. This is fixed in the v1.030 patch and later.
- Jet can die, when you jump into the Data Stream on Thorne's Inner Partition level. This shouldn't happen. Luckily, if it does, this won't prevent you from continuing to the next level — that is, provided the arrow pointing to the exit appears, when you jump in. Otherwise, you actually will die!
- On random occasions, music will not play when you are in the menu screens. This also occurs during Multiplayer game matches, usually if you are the client and not the host.
- There is an unconfirmed bug, that your disc striking an opponent's disc in mid-air, will cause whoever threw the disc first to de-rezz.
- There is loading screen artwork contained in the game files, for the Multiplayer Disc Arena levels, that has never been used.
- Sometimes when you refill your health or energy bars, the amount will get stuck at one below the full amount. For example, if your maximum health is 100 and you do a full recharge, the number will only reach 99 and stop there. Yet if you go to the System Memory screen and come back, the number will change and be properly reported at 100.
- There is an interesting bug/cheat when it comes to using the infinite energy patch to recharge. If you use a weapon that is constantly drawing power, and then start recharging with the patch . . . as long as you keep holding down the action key to recharge, you can walk away from the patch and recharging will continue! It doesn't matter how far you get from the patch: as long as you hold down the action key, recharging will continue until your meter is full. As an example, walk up to an infinite energy patch and select the Rod Primitive as your weapon. Use the rod, which will continually drain your energy. Then use the patch, to recharge. Keep using both the rod and the patch at the same time. Now walk as far away as you like from the patch. Guess what, your energy will continue to be recharged.
- It has been reported that if you use the Combat Training Arena practice program more than 15 times, it will stop working.
- Apparently, the Light Cycle AI has one huge flaw. If an opponent is driving right beside you, and you slow down, he will automatically turn and crash into your trail, every time you do this! (Maybe this is an intentional exploit to help frustrated players beat the Light Cycle matches, for those who are clever enough to notice?)
- Subtitles during Light Cycle matches can disappear, or only appear intermittently.
- If you drive your Light Cycle really close to a wall, the camera will look through the wall and mess up your view. Let's hope the next patch fixes this annoyance.
- Sometimes when DataWraiths rezz in on the Primary Docking Port level, lightmaps appear in your view and the frame rate slows down. Don't know if this is a game bug, or driver problem.
- An old e-mail found on the Primary Digitizing level, from Lora, has an address from fCon. Unless e-mails from the Encom domain were in the middle of being transferred over to fCon by this point (unlikely), the e-mail should have an address from Encom.
- There is also one e-mail where GibbsJr@en.net is shown, instead of GibbsJr@en.com.
- During the introduction cinematic, a "Christmas tree" type of status board can be seen on the wall behind Jet, when he's in the lab. This board should reflect the status of the laser and digitizing process. When the laser goes online and moves toward Jet, the board doesn't change, even though a verbal warning is heard. That's because the first view is incorrect . . . it's already showing the state the board should actually change to, when the laser becomes active.
Note the status of the board. It shouldn't look this way, yet.
The board hasn't changed. That's because the previous view was wrong.
- There are numerous instances where spoken character dialog does not match the subtitles shown on the screen. A list of the discrepancies will be added in the future.
- Some e-mails are addressed to "AllPersonal" — which of course is a mistake — while others are correctly addressed to "AllPersonnel".
- E-mails from the fCon CEO incorrectly spell the word "Future" in Future Control Industries as "Furture".
- The header at the top of the System Memory screen, doesn't always reflect the theme name of the level you're currently on. For example, on the Program Integration level, instead of saying "Unauthorized User" at the top, it says "TRON Level".
- The author had the following occur. When he entered the Light Cycle Arena and Staging Pit level, and was asked to reconfigure his subroutines: any time he placed the cursor over the attribute area, or placed the cursor over an empty memory or inventory slot, the tooltip that appeared was still referring to the Code Optimization Ware from the previous level! Even though it had long since disappeared.
- The following also occured. When a saved game from a later level was loaded, and then a new game started, a remnant subroutine was still active even though it wasn't shown in inventory. The Profiler subroutine from the prior game still worked on the very first level and during combat training, when clearly there's no possibilty of having a subroutine at this point in the game.
- After giving correct advice to the ICP program on the Light Cycle Arena and Staging Pit level, the message that appears on the screen should read "Correct advice given to Regular about who will win the next race". However, the word "win" is missing.
- On random occasions, the game won't render the last two yellow "focusing globes" inside the LOL.
- If you download a video from an archive bin, and then skip the cutscene by pressing the spacebar, your profiler will show a name and health points for the bin.
- On the Abandoned Test Grid level, the profiler will sometimes become "stuck" and show information, even when you don't have an opponent in your sights.
- On the Security Socket level, a bend in a footpath has a texturing mistake.
- Some other bugs, in Multiplayer:
- Modifying any of the files inside the ATTRIBUTES folder in Game.rez, will prevent you from joining an online game server that doesn't support your mod, with no warning message to explain the problem. Your server list will end up blank, as a result.
- Having more than 6 or 8 .rez files (depending on the game version) in the Custom\Resources folder will cause serious problems during gameplay! Put multiple user-made maps into one .rez file, to avoid this problem. What a stupid limitation! See the 9.3 Crashes, Slowdowns, and Other Problems section for more details.
- Once in a while when you want to host a game, if you have created and selected a custom profile, the game will revert to the default profile on its own.
- Sometimes when trying to host a game, the map selection list on the left will be blank even though maps are available. Selecting the Add All option will get around this problem.
- Sometimes when starting a Disc Arena/Tournament match, your disc is holstered, leaving you defenseless until you manage to draw your weapon.
- Players occasionally end up joining a Disc Arena/Tournament match when it's already in progress, with no time to prepare during the normal countdown. This issue could be ping related.
- Players getting stuck or de-rezzing on rings in Disc Arena/Tournament . . . though it could be a ping issue, where you can't see that the ring you're stepping on has actually been de-rezzed already.
- If you beat your opponent(s), but then die immediately afterward, they win the match and get the point.
- A match continues even when you've defeated your opponent(s), so you have to die in order to move on . . . only your opponent(s) win the match and get the point.
- Observers not even in a match occasionally get a point, and the player(s) that won the point, end up losing.
- If you go to the Team Select screen while your match is loading, sometimes you get stuck in the Observation Area, and can no longer enter the match to play.
- Another unconfirmed bug, where if you change your existing Multiplayer name before re-joining a game, will crash.
- If you create your own Disc Arena/Tournament level and give players a Y-Amp version of Beta, then all subsequent maps loaded in Multiplayer will also have Beta Y-Amp. This causes problems with jumping, on maps that are supposed to have a Gold level Y-Amp. The same could occur with other subroutines, though this would need to be confirmed.
- The invert Y-Axis camera control for Light Cycles, sometimes does not remember what you set it to, and keeps resetting.
NOTE: This seems to have been fixed in the v1.030 patch and later.
- Occasionally in Multiplayer, the profiler will show one extra health or armor point above a player's limit.
- There is an interesting level design "flaw", if you will, on the Disc Arena Dataserver Hub level. If you jump toward the top middle of the floating see-through circuit designs, surrounding the beam in the center of the level, you can get stuck there and float in mid-air for a very Matrix or Zen-like feeling.
When an eighth player joins a Light Cycle match, all sorts of bugs start to crop up, such as the following . . .
- Players instantly de-rezzing as a Light Cycle match starts, or right before. This bug could be ping related.
- When you pick up a Shield and activate it, it actually isn't working correctly. Crashing through someone else's trail causes you to de-rezz, even with the shield activated. You must let yourself die again, in order to correct the problem.
- Sometimes when a match starts, everyone dies except one random player, and he is awarded the win for the match. If this happens, the green speed zones and red slow zones no longer work on all future maps. This bug could be ping related.
- It's possible to have your Light Cycle face a wall when you start, if you look around before you rezz-in. So make sure you're not looking at a wall when you start a match. However, there have still been reports of Light Cycles sometimes facing the wall, even if this precaution is taken.
- Once in a while players don't return to normal speed, after leaving green speed zones or red slow zones.
- Sometimes Light Cycles are invisible at the beginning of a match, and don't appear until some time later! This issue could be ping related.
- If no other players possess a power-up, then when a Light Cycle player uses the Power Grab power-up, all the power-ups on the current level will disappear. They do not return until the next level is loaded.
- There is an unconfirmed bug, where Single Player Light Cycle matches ignore some of the settings you enter. (e.g. Number of opponents.)
- Modifying any of the files inside the ATTRIBUTES folder in Game.rez, will prevent you from joining an online game server that doesn't support your mod, with no warning message to explain the problem. Your server list will end up blank, as a result.
Undocumented Features
- Pressing the R key in a Disc Arena/Tournament match will show an additional status display, detailing the length of time remaining in the game and how many points have been scored in the current matches.
- Hitting the Pause key will pause the game, and show the screen below.
- Using your disc as a melee weapon is not only possible in Single Player and Disc/Arena Tournament, but also in Derez/Team Derez. Holding down the Ctrl key while you try to throw the disc will result in your player swinging the disc at an opponent.
Bugs introduced in v1.020
My computer won't read the first
CD when the game asks for it!- The patch seems to have caused new problems, in the copy protection scheme that checks the first CD. See 9.3 Crashes, Slowdowns, and Other Problems, for more information.
On the Main Power Pipeline level, I can't transfer energy to and from Jet any more!
- If you skipped the Light Cycle race on the Ancient Grid Arena — which was the previous level — by selecting "No" when asked if you want to retry . . . then that is the cause of the problem. There is a serious bug in the new Light Cycle match skipping feature. (Before, if you selected "No", the game would end.) Even though skipping this particular race is said to be the cause, I would never skip any of the Light Cycle matches, just in case.
If you must skip a Light Cycle race, out of sheer frustration, use the mpmaphole cheat instead. Check out the 7.2 Full Game Cheats section, for more information. However, this will probably skip more than just the Light Cycle race most of the time, and move you to the next level. So you will be missing all sorts of things, as a result!
The v1.030 patch and later, fixed this bug.
Note that if you don't have a saved game prior to where you skipped the Light Cycle match, then updating your game version won't help. Your latest saved game will contain an error, that still causes the energy bug to occur. The only solution then, is to start over.
My Power Block subroutine doesn't seem to be working any more!
- This apparently starts to happen around the time you reach the Alan's Desktop PC level. The v1.030 patch or later, fixed this bug.
I can't switch weapons any more!
- In a related bug, that seems to be affecting only people who installed the v1.020 patch (this needs to be confirmed) . . . there have been reports of this happening, around the point where you reach the Firewall level. The v1.030 patch or later, fixed this bug.
Bugs introduced in v1.030
- There are no known bugs as of this writing.
Bugs introduced in v1.040
- Players are able to continue taking subroutine and energy pickups in Derez (Deathmatch) and Team Derez, even when they already have that subroutine or a full energy charge. This behavior is not fair to other players who still need those items.
- If a player's ping is too high in deathmatch, he will be placed in spectator mode. It would be better to not allow that player to join a match, like in the other game types. Also, if this happens, the game will not let that player move or do anything. He will have to abort and then re-join the game. Not being able to move was fixed in the newer v1.040 patch, but whether the game still puts you in spectator for high pings when joining, needs to be confirmed.
- In a related bug . . . with the earlier version of v1.040, every time you died there would be a huge lag before your actions registered on the server, after respawning. This left you vulnerable to other players' attacks. Even worse, sometimes the server would then believe your ping had spiked to some ridiculously high level, and boot you into spectator mode. That's when the aforementioned bug of not being able to move, would kick in. So every time you died, you'd have to abort and re-join the game. Which made deathmatch almost unplayable! Thankfully, the newer v1.040 fixed this showstopper.
- When a deathmatch player is in spectator mode, he is visible and can be attacked by other players. Again, this is unfair to those players. They should be invisible and invulnerable until they join the game. At least killing spectators no longer gains a player points . . . like it did in the earlier version of the v1.040 patch. The newer v1.040 patch fixed this.
- After being spawned into a Derez or Team Derez match for the first time, the game would not prompt you to join a team in order to play. This was fixed in the newer v1.040 patch.
- Sometimes while chatting, the game will spontaneously generate a random taunt even though you didn't send one.
- The newer v1.040 has introduced new problems to players hosting their own Multiplayer servers. In Light Cycle games, when more than three players join a race, the ping rate for all players suddenly spikes to unreasonable levels. This seems very similar in nature to the bug in deathmatch, mentioned above. Servers also seem to have become unstable now, and crash far more often than in earlier versions. The same issues seem to be affecting Disc matches as well, but this needs to be confirmed.
- Other serious bugs introduced in the newer v1.040 patch, include the return of not being able to move (in a different form) and not even being able to quit the game! Now if you die, instead of having to leave and re-join the game, the player has to go to spectator mode and back in order to move again. Also, the game menu will stop working at this point. Hitting the ESC key will do nothing any more. You'll have to resort to hitting Alt-F4, in order to exit the game completely and return to the Windows desktop.
- Sometimes in Disc Arena/Tournament matches, when you de-rezz an opponent, their disc remains behind and floats in mid-air.
For more information on the two different versions of the v1.040 patch, visit the 9.2 Released Game Patches section.
Bugs introduced in v1.042
- There is still a lag problem if you die and are respawned in Derez/Team Derez, but it is much less severe than in v1.040. Now there can be a delay of up to 10 seconds between the actions you perform, and their registering with the server. This may be caused by high ping rates.
- A bug similar to the floating disc bug mentioned earlier, seems to exist in Derez/Team Derez. There have been reports of players' weapons floating in mid-air, with the player nowhere to be seen. Apparently this is caused by high ping.
- The Dedicated Server program can still hang in Derez/Team Derez on v1.042, which means that when you join a hung server you can't move. Fortunately, this doesn't leave you without a game menu, like it did before!
- Sometimes in Disc Arena/Tournament matches, your disc will instantly return when you recall it. This seems to happen from time to time, particularly when your disc deflects off a surface.
NOTE: A BVG rep has stated that this was done, to fix another bug that is even less desirable . . . losing your disc. Hmm, I can't remember anyone ever complaining about losing their disc in Disc Arena/Tournament. And fixing a bug, by technically introducing another one?
- Also in Disc Arena/Tournament, there have been many reports that when a new player rezzes in and joins a game, that someone else instantly de-rezzes. Then the player that just rezzed in, gets the point for de-rezzing the other player! This is another problem, that could be caused by high ping.
- Again in Disc Arena/Tournament . . . there are reports of players meant to rezz-in in the arenas to do combat, sometimes appearing in the lobby instead. These players can then use the disc, even if spectator combat has been turned off! So spectators are helpless, if that player chooses to use the disc on them.
- There has been a report that the Single Player AI has been affected in the v1.042 patch, and is now much worse than before, even on harder difficulty levels. The FAQ author has noticed one thing for certain . . . the AI of the Kernel during the fight in Thorne's Chamber Core, definitely seems to have been dumbed down! The Kernel barely put up a fight, when tested on v1.042.
- It seems that while you are typing to chat, if you want to use any of the characters ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) that require you to hold down Shift and the keys 1-0, the game still generates a taunt. Taunts should be disabled while typing, during chat.
- Sometimes the green swirling effect that can be seen on a player infected with Corrode, will continue to show long after the damage has worn off. There have also been reports of seeing the Corrode swirl on its own, while the player is invisible for a while. This is likely due to high ping, and the player does eventually appear.
Wish List
Doable
- Adjust the safe falling distance. Jet dies far too easily dropping from a few feet off an Archive Bin or two . . . considering he's supposed to be an all-powerful User, in a virtual world.
- Either lengthen the disc block a little, or slow down the ICP discs a bit. Especially toward the later fCon levels.
I mean, the fCon ICPs would a toss a disc and almost instantly it would reach me . . . you have literally the tiniest fraction of a second to block it. And then when they gang up on you, it's impossible to block every disc. There's no way to survive that, you have to run for it. And here I thought, Jet was a User? With abilities beyond even some of the most exceptional programs?
- What about adding the ability to block Ball projectiles with the Disc? The ability to block still other types of weapons would be asking too much, I agree. But I think all the forms of the Ball primitive, being solid projectiles, should be blockable. This would help players with an unoptimized Virus Shield Subroutine, to keep from being infected so often, early in the game.
- What is the deal with fragmented memory blocks? They should continue to appear throughout the game. After the first couple of levels, as you fill your memory slots with subroutines, they disappear completely. The Defrag Procedural becomes useless. What should happen instead — though not too often, or else it will become extremely annoying — is that in addition to a subroutine being infected, it will occasionally be kicked out of its slot(s) and the block(s) it occupied become(s) fragmented. There would be a limit of say, three subroutines, that could be kicked out at any one time, again to keep it from getting too annoying.
- Add more models to Multiplayer. Where are the Kernel, Thorne, DataWraith, Civilian w/Helmet, and Alan/
?
UPDATE: A younger model was added in the v1.040 patch and later.
- Add computer controlled Bots to Multiplayer. That way, if you have a poor internet connection, or none at all, you can still get the chance to play Disc matches. Or maybe you just want to practice, before being teased and then repeatedly de-rezzed, by more experienced opponents. Bots would not be that difficult to add. The AI in single player can be tweaked to work in Disc matches.
- Add the ability to prevent other players from attacking you while observing, in Multiplayer Disc matches.
Right now, the server administrator can completely disable disc combat in the observation lobby. Which is all fine and dandy. But if this isn't done, and you really want to join a particular server where observation combat is on, then what?
The solution would be, that holstering your disc signals that you don't wish to do any combat until you enter a match. So other players who attack you, will not be able to do a thing . . . you're invincible until you enter the arena. So, have the disc holstered by default when the player spawns in the game, and only if he draws his disc, then allow other players to de-rezz him.
- How about adding all three Disc types to Multiplayer? It would certainly add variety to combat, and increase the level of the strategies that players would have to deal with.
UPDATE: It's possible to create a Disc Arena style map for Derez play in v1.040/v1.042, that would allow all three disc types.
- Also add Bots to Multiplayer Light Cycle matches, to fill in the gaps for remaining non-existant players, if desired.
- Add the ability to quickly glance left or right, in Light Cycle matches. Why wasn't this included? It seems like such an obvious thing, to overlook.
- Tone down the Light Cycle AI a little. The AI can pull off maneuvers that are impossible for you to do, and they sometimes like to use really cheap tactics. You can't use the argument that they're programs and you're human, so they should be able to think and act faster than you. That's because Jet was already a good gamer in the real world, and now he's a program, too. So, he should at least be on the same level as experienced game bots.
- Why doesn't the front wheel have a spinning animation, on the classic old Light Cycles? It would be so simple to have included that, and would add that extra authentic touch from the film. All it is, is a gradient shaded line, that flickers on and off.
- Why isn't the Light Cycle tutorial level, available in the Multiplayer game? It's one of the only nice and empty levels, so you don't have to constantly deal with obstacles. Would've been nice to have it.
- If you customize power-ups, and none you chose were designed to be part of the level being played, then there will be no power-ups available. This shouldn't happen.
- There should also be an option to randomize light cycle power-ups, in both Single and Multiplayer matches.
- The color of the trails, for Red and Green Light Cycles, should be changed slightly. They're too hard to see, on the slow and fast zones.
- A call vote function should be added to all Multiplayer games. That way, everyone can agree on changing to a new type of gameplay, or who should be kicked from a game.
- Some other features that should be added to Multiplayer are, server log files, the ability by the admin to broadcast pop-up messages to all players that they can't ignore, more detailed server filtering options when trying to join a game, and the ability to ban players by Serial Number.
- There should be more volume sliders, to give you greater control over the sound levels in the game. Right now there are only three: music, sound effects, and speech. How about: music, nearby/cutscene speech, distant speech, local sound effects, and distant sound effects? Even if the sound problems in this game don't affect you, it would be nice to be able to raise the volume of distant speech sometimes, so you don't have to get so close in order to hear it.
- There should be a way to abort editing a key binding, in the control configuration screen. Right now, once you start editing a control, there's no way to stop. You're forced to assign a key or other control. And then there's no way to delete a change you've made, either.
- Why isn't there an FPS command? Lots of gamers want to see how well the game is running, by checking the frame rate. The Lithtech engine has a built-in FPS meter. Please, re-enable it somehow. Why are we forced to use FRAPS?
- A way to access all the levels and cutscenes when you finish should be added, so you don't have to save at every point in the game. (And even if you do that, there aren't enough save game slots for all the levels.)
- Which brings up the point, that there should be more save game slots! There are only ten. The number of saved games should be limited only by your hard drive space. Or at least high enough, that it's virtually unlimited (say one hundred slots).
- Jet's final build version should be more prominent, and last longer on the screen, when you finish the game. It can be very easy to miss your final score, because it's using a fairly small font and only stays on the screen for a few seconds.
- In the new Derez (Deathmatch) and Team Derez modes introduced with the v1.040 patch, when players need to recharge their energy or health, the patches should not be pickups that instantly recharge you and disappear. Instead, they should be like in the Single Player game, where they are stationary and don't disappear until slowly drained. This will force players to remain stationary while recharging, which makes the game more challenging and will truly separate the better players from the rest.
- Pickups should also be randomly placed at the beginning of each level. Right now, it's too easy for experienced players to memorize the locations of powerups, and keep grabbing the most powerful weapons to blow away their opponents. Such weapons, like the Prankster Bit and Drunken Dims, should appear only for brief moments and then disappear at random time intervals . . . or be hidden in such a way that they are much more difficult to find, rather than being out in the open.
Would be Nice (Maybe in an expansion pack. Tron 2.1, anyone?
)- The ability to use a Recognizer, in both Single and Multiplayer. Everyone wants this. It would be very cool.
- Of course, that also means the ability to use Tanks, as well!
- How about adding the version of Jai-Alai seen in the film, into Multiplayer. What's Jai-Alai, you ask? You can find out the history of the game, here. Basically, the film modified the game to suit the electronic world of , and included it as a sort of homage to Pong.
Two players stand on rings, and bounce an energy ball off a ceiling, using a special scoop-like glove on one arm to handle the ball. The goal is to de-rezz enough rings, so that the player falls while trying to catch the ball, or to hit the player for an instant de-rezz. Although Flynn and Crom never really missed the ball in the film, I suspect missing the ball more than once means losing the game and instant de-rezzing.
- Including the classic arcade game, as an easter egg, would've been a great addition. I don't know exactly what would be involved in securing the rights, and either porting or emulating the game, but it would have been totally worth it.
- Grid Bugs should have been included. Either as opponents in combat, or dangers on the Light Cycle grids.
- The chance to ride on a Solar Sailer would've been nice. Even some sort of cameo appearance, would have been better than nothing.
- Considering how Mercury was in every possible promotional material for the game, her character ended up being sorely under-used. Also, we find out very little about her, or her User. If there is an expansion follow-up, her character should be much more prominent next time!
- A cockpit, with textures for the enclosure surrounding the player, would have been cool on the Classic Light Cycles in 1st-person view mode. It would make riding the Old Cycle harder, but would also add another touch of authenticity, and add an extra challenge to using the Cycle. Think of the bragging rights players could have, if they played and won the matches using the cockpit, restricting their view.
- Light Cycles should create a crack in the wall, when they crash. And how about more debris? The film showed a bouncing wheel, for example. These would have been fairly simple things to add.
- The ability to explore a level freely by riding the Light Cycle, and not being restricted to 90 degree turns, would have ruled. Can you imagine racing away from other Cycles, trying to escape? Or Tanks and Recognizers chasing you, like in the film? Or how about just cruising along, exploring a strange and vast simulated landscape inside the computer? This would have been one of the best features, they could have put into a game!
- The way energy pools were handled, could have been better. Energy pools should be a secret reward that you stumble upon, and can supercharge yourself with, beyond normal limits. A type of mellow, soothing music could be played when you find one, so the music and shimmering waves can serve as a break from the rest of the game.
The extreme power you gain from an energy pool, should have allowed you to do extra things not normally possible by other programs. Jet is a User, after all. As was Flynn, in the original film. Flynn was able to do all sorts of amazing things, once he powered up.
Also, shouldn't the player model kneel, to scoop up some energy and drink it? Rather than just wading through it? I know it would have meant extra work, but it would've been another nice touch.
- Speaking of User abilities . . . one that definitely should have been added, is the ability to steal other factions' colors, like Flynn did. That way, Jet could disguise himself as an ally of the ICPs, DataWraiths, or Corrupted programs. Wouldn't that have been fun?
Funny enough, if you poke around in the game files, there is a reference to a Disguise Subroutine! But Monolith must have run out of time, and couldn't implement this feature. Damn. What a shame.
There are other interesting things to be found, if you poke around enough, BTW. Mithril armor, anyone? Confuse? Flash Buffer?
- Another nifty addition, would have been stumbling across secret programs in later levels, who can supply you with special subroutines. No, not "Data Pushers". More like "Script Kiddies" who can write custom subroutines on the fly, for you. Obviously, there can't be an unlimited number of subroutines they can supply. But how about a few extra, unique subroutines found nowhere else. Like extra weapons, for example. The requirements to receive these bonuses, could be the need for a heapload of energy (so you need to max out your energy attribute), and gathering various bits of incomplete code throughout a level. This would make an interesting side-quest, for players who like collecting all possible bonuses, so they can brag about their score. Plus, being able to use new, powerful subroutines would be very fun.
- Instead of just I/O Nodes, you should have at least once had the chance to use an I/O Tower. That would have been so cool! Imagine stepping into a shimmering beam to communicate with . . . Alan-One! And he gives you a disc, with instructions on how to destroy the MCP . . . no wait, that was a different story. Still, this is another wasted opportunity, to recapture some more magic from the film. (I know, deadlines are hell.)
- Some of the puzzles should have been more hacker oriented. I mean, what a golden opportunity to pull off the ultimate hack! You're actually inside the computer now, imagine what you can do! But in order to hack, there should still be some challenge, with appropriate visual and conceptual metaphors in the game. The Monolith team did such a great job in creating metaphors for so many computer concepts, it's too bad they didn't go this one step further.
The hacking puzzles could have been CLI oriented, a bit like in the Enter the Matrix game. Using a text-based shell prompt, to type in various commands. Or, they could've taken a cue from the classic System Shock. There was an inspired hacking puzzle system, if I ever saw one.
- Why didn't we see the Resource Hogs using Super Light Cycles, on any of the Single Player levels? I mean, the Hogs are such an obvious allusion to members of a — now cyberspace — bike gang, that it ain't even funny. They're big, they're tough, they want to steal turf and possessions (in this case, subroutines and energy) . . . and they're carrying the digital equivalent of shotguns, for crying out loud! They even have tattoos! Or else, what are those skull-and-crossbone like "X" markings on their foreheads, doing there? And how about those goggles? The Super Cycles are clearly the equivalent of real-world Harleys (often called Hogs, no less). What Resource Hog would be caught de-rezzed, without one?
- More one-on-one "Boss" Disc-only matches would have been great. It only happens once, which is a shame. Or how about some kind of trap, where your other weapons are taken away from you, and you're forced to use only your Disc, against multiple Disc wielding opponents. And not necessarily ICPs, either. How about a new type of opponent? Like game programs experienced in disc combat, or even other Users? That would be cool.
- The Disc Primitive could have been a bit more useful. Although it's great that the original disc uses no energy, it has no special qualities beyond that. What could have been added, to make it more useful, is a greater amount of control over the path this version of the disc can take. So, the other versions of the disc have a limited ability to influence their path, while the primitive version has greater control. Also, a Power Throw move or subroutine could have been added, that breaks through shields or armor, and can take out almost any opponent in one shot. Of course, there should be a high energy consumption penalty for using this move.
- There should be a penalty for repeatedly blocking with the disc. For example, your first block lasts one second. Then if you block again within a certain time window (say, 2 seconds), the next block will last only 0.5 seconds. Then the next, 0.2 seconds. And so on. This will keep lamers from constantly using the block, especially in Multiplayer.
It should also be required, that you aim your block in order to deflect a disc. While this may be a bit difficult to implement for the developers, it would certainly prove an interesting addition. If the disc were slowed down a bit, the player could have the time to aim his disc in order to block the other incoming disc. Maybe an option to vary the speed of the disc throw, would be a worthwhile addition, as well.
Finally, a chance of the deflected disc bouncing off . . . and then spiraling into the player to cause damage anyway, could be another interesting penalty for repeated blocking.
- Despite the desire by Monolith to create a unique Multiplayer experience for , I think more traditional types of games should have been implemented.
Handled correctly, Co-Op, Deathmatch, and CTF, could be a lot of fun in the world. Objective based Co-Op or Deathmatch missions, particularly, would be awesome. Imagine having to take down an fCon fortress of some kind, where you need to solve a lot of complex puzzles, and find several permissions. Players could split up, and tackle each task required. Then they could regroup later, once they're further inside, and attack a force of fCon ICPs and DataWraiths. How cool would that be?
UPDATE: Derez and Team Derez (Deathmatch) were introduced in the v1.040 patch. So we're halfway there now . . . c'mon BVG and Monolith, add Co-Op, CTF, and Objectives!
- Add even more models to Multiplayer. How about Flynn, Clu, Ram, Sark, Dumont, Crom, and the younger ? Okay, maybe not that many, but you get the idea . . .
UPDATE: A younger model was added in the v1.040 patch and later.
- Having the player's arm textures match the body, in Multiplayer, would have been good. If you choose to be a Z-Lot, for example, your arms are green all right. But the arms are still Jet's. (Yes, it would have meant a lot of extra work for the artists.) Ah well, too bad. Maybe next time?
- A small, stripped down stand-alone version of the Multiplayer server, should be made available. Not everyone wants to install the full 2 GB game, in order to run a server. Of course, a lot of people are hoping for a Linux version as well, and not just a Windows version.
- The de-rezz animation, for when Jet dies, is kind of irritating. At first you don't mind it so much. But after dying many times, the loud high-pitched whine and white noise effect, gets on your nerves. It would have been way cooler to have the screen de-rezz in various ways, each time Jet dies, with the de-rezz sound effect. Or have Jet's player model actually de-rezz, like the ICPs do.
- The cutscene at the end of the game, was something of a disappointment. I certainly hope that its lack of story resolution, means that an expansion pack is indeed being planned!