Nerf Arena Blast

[Smirftsch]

[img]http://coding.hanfling.de/sshot_nerf.png[/img]

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerf_Arena_Blast

Some Facebook Group (about 50 people):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nerfare ... community/

Patch:
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/mirror/nerfpatch1-2.exe

Demo:
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/mirror/nerfdemo1_1.exe

NAB Community Page:
http://www.nerfarena.net

NAB Community Pack:
http://www.nerfarena.net/index.php/downloads/download/8-community-packs-and-utilities/1-nab-community-pack-3-3-full

[Hellkeeper]

Quite the obscure mini-game you found out. Not sure it's useful to have a complete dedicated forum for that, but who knows.

[han]

Quite the obscure mini-game you found out. Not sure it's useful to have a complete dedicated forum for that, but who knows.

The thing i like about Nerf is that after playing some time it just feels like an fast oldschool deathmatch game.
And here is one reason why a dedicated forum is useful:

Headers for Nerf Arena Blast based on unrealpubsrc224v, UnrealGoldPubSrc, DeusExSDK1112fm, ut432pubsrc and RunePubSrc107 and libs created with dumpbin.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/nonofficial/NerfPubSrc12_20141218.zip

Based upon that:

Launcher for Nerf.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/release/Launch-Nerf-12-20150426.zip 

OpenGLDrv for Nerf Arena Blast based on ut436-opengldrv-src-090602.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/release/OpenGLDrv-Nerf-300a-20160311.zip *UPDATE*

D3DDrv for Nerf Arena Blast based on the D3DDrv out of the ut432pubsrc.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/release/Nerf_D3DDrv_20141218.zip

Smirftschs ALAudio ported to Nerf.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/release/Nerf_ALAudio_20141222.zip

For those who don't want to install the Community Pack a  NerfI.u with a fix for the fading away crosshair.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/release/NerfI.u_20141218.zip

Chris Dohnals utglr/utd3d can also be build with these headers, however they have some parts of the weapon clipped. Here are patches against them if someone would like to pick this up and fix them and/or supply builds (I have no plans in doing this). Kenties D3D10Drv can also be compiled and seems to work rather fine despite already known issues of other games (I also have no plans for supplying builds of this). Kentie has no time/interest in supplying Nerf builds. Chris Dohnal has not answered my email. Maybe one of you guys want to pick this up.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/patch/utglr37src-nerf.patch
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/patch/utd3dr12src-nerf.patch

[Amaroq Clearwater]

I've actually been wanting to try this game for a while. Maybe somebody could work on De-CDifying the soundtrack with some Ogg conversions?

[han]

Having an Ogg Soundtrack is sth. which should be much easier now with ALAudio. Rajada already looked into that a bit, and i'll probably do the same later.

I'm not very familar with ALAudio and I'm not sure if it's possible to play a stereo soundtrack or if one would have to use mono.

Another thing are these *.bik video files. Convert them to more useful video format would be a good idea. Currently VNerf.exe is used as a sort of player to display the video files. Either i could replace VNerf.exe with sth. other or directly play them back in the Launcher. I have not looked into what format and lib for playing it back to use. Suggestions?

[Amaroq Clearwater]

I am not sure about .BIK format, but a lot of games that I own use .BIK video playback. Some versions of idTech have various video playback functions, and as most idTech versions are open source, the code could potentially be adapted to work with the public headers.

[han]

I am not sure about .BIK format, but a lot of games that I own use .BIK video playback.

[url=http://www.any-video-converter.com/]Any Video Converter[/url] supports the conversation of *.BIK files, so there is no reason to keep using *.BIK files.

[Amaroq Clearwater]

NerfEd is temperamental. It doesn't like to open non-standard maps. Just like UED 2.0 >.

[han]

Did you apply the Nerf 1.2 Patch before?

[Amaroq Clearwater]

Yeah. Was that a mistake?

If so, then I will have to reinstall the whole thing... The copy that I have on my computer doesn't have any music or video assets anyway.

And correction: NerfEd doesn't want to open any maps.

[han]

Yeah. Was that a mistake?

Nope.

And correction: NerfEd doesn't want to open any maps.

With or without the above files?

As for ALAudio, i didn't in include an OpenAL32.dll in the package, you could try if putting this OpenAL32.dll in your Nerf/System dir solve the issue.
http://coding.hanfling.de/launch/release/OpenAL32.dll

Also make sure you put the config entries inside your Nerf.ini file. If that won't help try setting UseDigitalMusic=False.

And if all fails, please nopaste your Nerf.ini, User.ini, Nerf.log, Editor.log.

[Amaroq Clearwater]

Without the 1.2 patch and community pack, NerfEd doesn't even run. But right now, it dislikes opening maps of any kind (I even tried opening UNR maps as opposed to NRF, but still no use). And of course, I can't move the camera (or cursor) in the editor viewports.

Also, I don't think OpenAL32.dll is the issue, the error says it can't find the class ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem. Unfortunately, I don't see that anywhere in the logs, just the error box that pops up.

- - - -

EDIT: Here are my INIs and my Logs.


The User.INI file was modified by hand through notepad, I haven't even launched the game itself yet, just the editor. Just looking at the control scheme in the default INI, I saw that it was an absolute mess.

- - - -

SECOND EDIT: So I finally managed to fix the OpenAL issue (thank you for the DLL, by the way), and apparently that also fixed the issue of not being able to move the mouse and camera around in the viewports. However, NerfEd still refuses to open maps.

[han]

"Init: Base directory: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Unreal Tournament\Nerf Arena Blast\System\"
Maybe the Path is too long.

WindowedRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice
RenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice
Also you should put SoftDrv.SoftwareRenderDevice here, (iirc) as the WindowesRenderDevice will be used for the Editor.

CacheSizeMegs=1024
Setting this so high makes no sense, stick with 8 or 16 MB.
Maybe toggle the UsePrecache/Precache/DoPrecache options. also entries under EditPackages=HealthVial may crappity smack sth. up (and remove the packages you won't need).

However, maybe setting StartupFullscreen=True helps. However i here are my current *.ini files. Maybe they do work.
http://nopaste.waigie.de/show/FQWe0Ou
http://nopaste.waigie.de/show/aJY83eQ

Any maybe you should try a fresh Nerf Install with 1.2 Patch and just using http://www.oldunreal.com/patch/official/UnrealEdFix4.exe for the Editor.

[Amaroq Clearwater]

I will lower the cache size, but last I checked the cache size function doesn't actually do much of anything on modern systems. And when I installed my copy, the cache size was already set pretty high (I confess, I downloaded the game in a RAR since I couldn't find a CD copy, hence why I didn't have the videos or music).

EDIT: Okay, pretty much everything is working now, except that I STILL cannot open anything with NerfEd.

[han]

Update on ALAudio.
* Different build options for ALAudio.dll used
* Added OpenAL.dll

[Amaroq Clearwater]

Do you think anybody is going to try making a High-Res texture pack and/or a high-definition remodeling pack, or possibly port code from NW3 and the UT Community SDK? An HD overhaul for NAB would be sweet.

[han]

Do you think anybody is going to try making a High-Res texture pack and/or a high-definition remodeling pack, or possibly port code from NW3 and the UT Community SDK? An HD overall for NAB would be sweet.

Rajada the author of the bonus pack is at least adding detail textures to Nerf, not quite sure what he's up to, but s3tc textures out of ut are working in Nerf.

Which parts of NW3 / UT Community SDK would fit in Nerf/would be useful there?

[Amaroq Clearwater]

NW3's modifiers, and the water/debris effects. (The former only work with weapons designed to function with NW3).
The UT community SDK... Pretty much everything, really. Static mesh LOD, sprite palettes, volumes, "materials", that frickin' awesome particle system, etc.

[Rajada]

EDIT: Okay, pretty much everything is working now, except that I STILL cannot open anything with NerfEd.

Sorry to notice this so late, but I find NerfEd has trouble opening map files in long or non-standard locations. You might notice an issue when trying to open from C:\Program Files\Atari\Nerf\Maps\ASubFolder, I certainly did. NEd is a very touchy program.

But it's pretty easy to tell why a map isn't opening if you open the log window up. Usually it will throw some missing file error at you. If it throws back part of the filename of the map itself, it is likely having trouble with the directory. Otherwise, if you're missing a file critical to the map you can let me know here and I'll see what I can do.

[Solid_Snake FirePhoenix]

I have this game very fun to play and there is a community site that Ramada runs its called: nerfarena.net :-)

[han]

Updated OpenGLDrv build to my current upstream version. See third post for download.