New Project: Analyzing MTA limits

[paulocf]

Hi there people, I'm starting a new big project and got a few questions regarding how far MTA can be used as a platform for modding.

I'm the scripter who wrote the bases script (dantashost is my brother's account), so I think 50p reminds of me!

Anyways, the questions are:

1) What's the limit of players, and Peds (bots) a server can have?

2) Since I'll be developing a MMORPG-like game mode I'll need melee "attacks" and projectile "attacks", is it possible to create projectile in shape of "skills", "magic"? (like a fireball) How is creating projectiles in shape of skills related to textures and animations (what file types are used)?

3) How does a ped behave and what limitations does it have? I've been reading about Slothbot and it seems wise to use it as the "enemy", but the enemy bot must be able to attack other enemy bot, can peds do it on their own or am I required to use Slothbot?

4) As one expect, all MMORPGs have something called "cooldown" or "recharge" for skills, that's the time a skill is locked until it's useable again. Would it lag client to have timers to handle skill recharges?

Phew, that's it. Please just answer if you really understand, if anything is confusing I can rewrite my questions. If you are expert enough you can PM so I can ask a bit more advanced stuff...

Thanks in advance!

[xXMADEXx]

1. No limit

2. Im not sure if you can, but if you can, it will have to be done throw .txd and .dff

3. Peds just stand in the same position, unless other scripts affect them

4. I don't believe it would create lag, if scripted correctly.

[Castillo]

That's wrong, there's a limit for peds ( there's a max element limit ) ( not sure if a player slot maximum too ), the element limit is: 65535

[xXMADEXx]

That's wrong, there's a limit for peds ( there's a max element limit ) ( not sure if a player slot maximum too ), the element limit is: 65535

oh

[paulocf]

That's wrong, there's a limit for peds ( there's a max element limit ) ( not sure if a player slot maximum too ), the element limit is: 65535

Hum, just to ensure, this is for concurrent peds on-game right? I mean, simultaneously spawned, I need to know this to keep track of ped destruction/respawn so that the limit doesn't get out of bounds.

Also, what's the deal with IDs in GTA? Is GTA limited to any specific number of skins for peds, players, objects? Are these IDs shared among all visible elements? Can I extend the limit of skins for each element?

[50p]

You're not explaining what you need to know. What do you mean by "skins for peds, players, objects"? That is total ELEMENT LIMIT this means all the elements together (objects+peds+marker+blips+vehicle+etc. = 65535) Of course GTA itself has limits, for example may not display more than 32 markers at the same time (a christmas tree may not have more than 32 lights/coronas).

[paulocf]

@50p, that's what I needed to know, element-specific limit and total element limit (32 and 65535), but it's not the skins.

Let me try and elaborate better, I've heard you have X number of SKINS for vehicles (Skins, Models, etc, think like they're synonyms), so if there are 40 valid ID models, I can only have 40 valid skins for vehicles, is that so?

Thanks for all the answers, much appreciated!

[50p]

I still don't understand your "skins". Models have textures, not skins. Pedestrians (peds) are skins. So, "skin of vehicle/ped/object" doesn't make sense. If you're talking about textures then you can replace textures of almost any model in game. I don't know if that helps but not understanding what you need to know makes things difficult.

[rain_gloom]

2) About Slothbot: they attack other teams, but you can instruct them to attack any ped, be it player or bot. (https://wiki.multitheftauto.com/wiki/Sl ... etBotChase)

You can also use NPC HLC if you want them to drive vehicles. I have no idea if the two can co-operate, but npchlc edits peds to be able to be used while slothbot spawns new peds. (although I think it can easily be edited to behave like the other mod)

Maybe you can disable the slothbot's attack and set them up to npchlc then reverse it when it's time.

NpcHlc has more movement stuff while Slothbot is better in attack behaviour. (modes n stuff, you can make them in npchlc as well, but they are pre-scripted)

4) I have an idea, but I haven't started working on it yet: if the script needs lots of timers which are not necessarily millisecond accurate, you can script a scheduler, which assigns nearby events into table fields, calculates the time between two events and runs only one timer at once.

I'm going to make it sometime, but feel free to use this idea for your own project, it sounds awesome

[paulocf]

@adrenalineSYS, thanks, I'll not use vehicles in my game! ^^

@50p, sorry for how confusing I may be sounding, I'm quite new to MTA modding. I was told there is a limit of types of objects existing in the game. I'll use an example: say GTA has 100 VEHICLES, with its own model and texture, is it possible to create my own vehicles apart from GTA default system and assign them their own models, texture, id, and overall "existence" within the game or am I limited to GTA system?

Say, I want to have a total (it's an example, actual value would be like 800 or something) of 3 monsters (monstrous chicken, evil imp, and hypno-dancer), 2 NPCs (Innkeeper, and bank manager), and a pool of 4 characters (classes) the player can choose from (archer, warrior, mesmer, and mage).

Each entity has model, and texture (skin), do I have to make everything fit into GTA already built-in ID-driven system, or can I make all my things apart and load and handle them as I wish?

I could make an engine from scratch, but this project is an experiment and creating an engine from scratch takes a lot of work, that's why I'll be using MTA's extended modding interface as a "platform" to build my game onto. Hope you understood.

[50p]

Now it's more clear to me. Answer is no. You can't create your own models and simply put them ingame as an addition but you can REPLACE already existing models within the game. There are 212 vehicles in game (IDs range: 400-612), you can't have your own IDs.

Although, devs are currently working on a way to import your own models to the game with their own IDs but to date we are limited to what GTA valid IDs are supported. MTA gets unstable when too many models get replaced but you could make your own dynamic system of loading models when they're needed and unloading them when they're streamed out but this too may lead to stability issues since replacing models doesn't take as long as 1ms. Imagine driving around and vehicles streaming in/out, this increases possibility of crashing since MTA's engine functions aren't perfect.