One more question, any time the map is loaded everyone gets a message box saying "NAV ERRORS" "Map is unplayable!". Map works ok though. To be clear, this error message has always there since before I had the stripper config and the .nut file change (using unmodifed file from workshop). Strangely, it does not show up if using a listen server instead of a dedicated server.
The Nav Mesh represents the "walkable areas" of a map. This allows the Survivor Bots and Infected to "know" how to move around in the environment, and tells the AI 'director' where it can spawn infected.
I think this is related to the game mode or that some configuration is plugin or vscript, is altering the map.
Use [L4D2 & CS:GO] VScript File Replacer to see the VScript changes (.nut files) in real-time game with this command:
sm_vs_listen
Spoiler
This will appear to you:
--- VSCRIPT: Listening started.
VScript output is printed to server console.
VSCRIPT: Listening started.
Then restart the round and see the console the VScript process:
sm_cvar mp_restartgame 1
The Nav Mesh represents the "walkable areas" of a map. This allows the Survivor Bots and Infected to "know" how to move around in the environment, and tells the AI 'director' where it can spawn infected.
I think this is related to the game mode or that some configuration is plugin or vscript, is altering the map.
Use [L4D2 & CS:GO] VScript File Replacer to see the VScript changes (.nut files) in real-time game with this command:
sm_vs_listen
Spoiler
This will appear to you:
--- VSCRIPT: Listening started.
VScript output is printed to server console.
VSCRIPT: Listening started.
Then restart the round and see the console the VScript process:
sm_cvar mp_restartgame 1
I'm not really familiar with the vscript stuff, but here is console output pertaining to vscript after restarting round:
He seemed to have other issues though, such as missing items, no zombie spawning etc. All I get is the nav error box but otherwise the map seems to work ok. Of course we've only made it to around 7 minutes though so I don't know if issues would arise later.
Cause this map has a lot of hard-coded and may have outdated stuff aswell.
Also be sure that you are using the clean version of this map.
This map is meant to play on survival mode only.
Yes, this only happens on helms deep map. I'm using the helm's deep reborn map v26 by jaiz, survival mode only.
It could be as you say, this map is pretty old so odd stuff may pop up as time goes on.
One more question, any time the map is loaded everyone gets a message box saying "NAV ERRORS" "Map is unplayable!". Map works ok though. To be clear, this error message has always there since before I had the stripper config and the .nut file change (using unmodifed file from workshop). Strangely, it does not show up if using a listen server instead of a dedicated server.
hmm i don't believe i've ever encountered this error before. can i ask how you load your maps? in my experience, i do remember early on when trying helm's deep that the map sometimes got kinda screw-y (like that missing items issue in the steam forums link) before i started using Bigbuck's [L4D/2] Campaign Manager to switch maps. i've since never had said issues anymore. even though it's not the same issue you have, it might be worth a try? it might not even be remotely related but at this point i'm kinda just grasping at straws lol.
hmm i don't believe i've ever encountered this error before. can i ask how you load your maps? in my experience, i do remember early on when trying helm's deep that the map sometimes got kinda screw-y (like that missing items issue in the steam forums link) before i started using Bigbuck's [L4D/2] Campaign Manager to switch maps. i've since never had said issues anymore. even though it's not the same issue you have, it might be worth a try? it might not even be remotely related but at this point i'm kinda just grasping at straws lol.
I load the maps through an 8 player lobby and connect to the my dedicated server using the mm_dedicated_force_servers variable. I have also tried directly connecting to the server using connect ip:port, launching the map directly when starting the server through my srcds batch file, the error is always there. I'm not sure why a listen server does not show this message though. I have also tried the linked campaign manager plugins and I get the same error.
As a side note, I see that the mission manager/acs pack uses the proper changelevel plugin. Sometimes when changing to another map, the console will spam
"Most gross danger! Cannot find Landmark named landmark_manager!" nonstop.
I have been doing some testing with more than 8 survivors.
Has anyone found a way to get more than 8 survivors in a finale? It seems using any of the working methods previous listed, such as the stripper configs and plugins, just have the "all survivors escaped" text replaced with "was the first survivor out!" and any survivor over 8 is listed as deceased. I tested with myself and 9 other bots as well as 2 players and 8 bots. I did try the stripper configs that were posted, using c1m4 atrium map, even uncommenting the 2 extra parts for extra survivors didn't yield a successful result. I also tried Psyk0tik's plugin and set l4d_esfp_amount "6" with the same result. It's not a big deal I suppose, I am just asking since there is a small chance that I might have 9 players at some point for a LAN game.
I will do a post at some point with all the plugins I use and updated links when I have time, that way I can also reference it for myself in the future as well.
sorry for the late reply. those are all foreign errors to me (o.o) and totally out of my scope. i've never encountered any of those errors before while playing helm's deep. hopefully you can get that sorted out at some point. i also think any help that might make it easier for people interested in getting started with SM is always a good thing. i'm basically still a newb at this whole thing and personally found it quite hard to get started on my server so i know how it feels, but getting through it's been super fun
while on the topic of helm's deep, does anyone know how to remove the slow-mo events that are scripted within the map? specifically when the wall collapses (around 4 mins i believe?) and towards the end when gandalf appears. i know Tonblader's stripper fix contains config lines that look like they should remove them, but i still get them anyway. i'll take a look at the stripper dump file for the map at some point, but it'll be a while before i can actually test it out, so i just thought i'd ask just in case anyone has already figured it out. cheers!
EDIT - i basically just removed all lines with "SlowMotion" in them. not sure which one is tagged to which event, but should get rid of both:
8 Survivors for Windows Server. Inspired by OP's post and Tonblader's post, amongst others. I will try to keep it updated over time.
This is primarily aimed for 8+ player campaign and survival modes.
Prerequisites
Make sure to read the section on how to setup a dedicated server. I tried to make it simple. It's recommended over a listenserver since those might exhibit weird bugs.
Configuration files for all the plugins are located in the \cfg\sourcemod directory of your server/game folder.
It is recommended to compile the plugins yourself, especially for older plugins that still work but haven't been updated in years. Just drag all the .sp files in the \addons\sourcemod\scripting folder to the compile.exe file and it will batch compile them into the \scripting\compiled folder.
L4D1-2_Signatures - If a future update breaks a plugin's gamedata file, get updated signatures here.
[L4D & L4D2]Witch fixes[Left 4 Fix]
The 8+ players bug fixes extension is considered to be a bit outdated but it seems to still work. Left-4-fix collection is newer and has replacements for most of the fixes except for the "finale score bug" fix. According to the 8+ players bug fixes thread it's supposed to fix how many survivors have escaped instead of showing them as deceased. Other bot management plugins may have this type of fix already included so using the newer Left-4-fix plugins might be preferable.
[L4D1?/2] Scene Adjustments/Fixes - fixes friendly fire and mourn quotes for 5+ survivors (seems to stop working on map change for me. If this happens to you, you can add "sm plugins reload sceneadjustments.smx" at the end of your server.cfg to reload the plugin on every map change).
Pre-Update Talker - Recommended workshop addon to be used in conjunction with Scene Adjustments plugin.
The Last Stand update made a number of changes, one of which is that survivors no longer shout the name of the survivor that just died. This talker mod restores the old behavior and works in conjunction with this plugin. Just add the .vpk file to your server's addon folder. You can use the Steam Workshop Downloader to download addons files directly from the Steam Workshop.
Save Weapon (Co-op) - Saves weapons and health for extra survivors while transitioning to another map. ABM should already be able to do this for all human players, but not for bots. This plugin supports both.
[L4D2]Character_manager + The Passing Fix - (download the included stripper files for the passing to prevent players using L4D1 characters from being booted/killed in this campaign)
[EXTENSION][L4D2] Left4Fix - (not to be confused with the Left-4-fix plugin collection) fixes versus score bug for extra survivors, I don't play versus so I haven't tested it.
Player/Bot management & Difficulty Scaling
There are 3 main choices for bot management and difficulty scaling. I also added extra combinations of plugins that you can use, including my personal setup if you want to skip to that instead. Please see the optional plugins section as well.
ABM is an all in one tool, however since it has not been updated in a while, some features don't work, for example the identity fix, the automodel feature and the model chooser menu, necessitating the use of survivor chat select plugin. It only lets you change a model for the survivor of the current map (either LD1 or LD2) but not both, even if enabled by other plugins. The settings for autodifficulty are also not as granular as other plugins. It's very good for server management, such as having teleport and respawn menus, and the ability to create and remove bots at will.
If you only want the plugin to create new survivors when a new player joins, set
PHP Code:
abm_minplayers "4"
in the abm.cfg file. If you just want to have all 8 survivors spawn as bots from the beginning and just have new players take over a bot when they join, set it to
PHP Code:
abm_minplayers "8"
or however may survivors you want to start with, up to the amount set in sv_maxplayers in your server.cfg/listenserver file. ABM will also let you start with less than 4 survivors, if you want to just play with just 2 or 3 survivors instead of 4.
If you want to let this plugin control the difficulty scaling, I recommend you lower the extra health given to a tank to make it more proportional to the extra number of players, such as setting it to:
PHP Code:
abm_tankchunkhp "1000"
Across the different difficulties, this insures that the tank health is at 200% when you have 8 survivors.
The plugin has been kept alive over the years but has older code compared to newer plugins. See here for more info.
MaxSpecials amount may not be scaled correctly, just use
"sm plugins reload l4d_superversus_latest.smx" (or whatever the name of your plugin file happens to be) after starting your server. See here.
Survivor management may not be as polished and may exhibit weird bugs such as requiring restart on Helm's Deep map, bots not being properly added or pruned, players being thrown to spectators team etc., but difficulty scaling is great.
If you only want the plugin to create new survivors when a new player joins, set
in the l4d_superversus.cfg file. If you just want to have all 8 survivors spawn as bots from the beginning and just have new players take over a bot when they join, set it to
Multislots is stricly for player/bot management, so it's usually paired with infected bots control plugin for difficulty scaling. CreateSurvivorBot plugin is needed for Multislots.
Do keep in mind that out of all the management plugins, Mulstislots and Infected Bots Control are the only ones so far that are still regularly receiving updates and bug fixes at this point in time. If this is important to you this combo is recommended.
If you only want the plugin to create new survivors when a new player joins, set
in the l4dmultislots.cfg file. If you just want to have all 8 survivors spawn as bots from the beginning and just have new players take over a bot when they join, set it to
or however may survivors you want to start with. For more than 8 players set l4d_multislots_max_survivors to match your sv_maxplayers value.
NOTE: Multislots does not support Versus mode, although it may in the future. I originally stated that infectedbots plugin on survival mode started spawning special infected before the timer started. It seems for the most part it does not do this, I'm not sure if only specific factors trigger it. I did not test all survival maps, I will note that the plugin combo also crashes for me when trying to play the atrium map. These crashes might not happen to you. If any of these are potential issues for you, other plugin combos might be more suitable.
----------
Personal Setup & Other Combinations
You can also use different combinations of player management and difficulty scaling plugins.
This combo works great for me. When using ABM with another plugin that handles the zombie difficulty scaling, you must disable the difficulty scaling options in ABM's config. Mainly these:
PHP Code:
abm_autohard "0"
abm_tankchunkhp "0"
I have added my config files here for reference.
My ABM config
PHP Code:
// This file was auto-generated by SourceMod (v1.10.0.6510)
// ConVars for plugin "abm.smx"
// Pruning extra survivors stops at this size
// -
// Default: "4"
abm_minplayers "4"
// Extra survivors to start the round with
// -
// Default: "0"
abm_extraplayers "0"
// In coop, spawn 1 more SI per extra player? Requires director_auto_difficulty 1 and Left 4 Downtown/Left 4 DHooks to work.
// -
// Default: "1"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
director_si_more "1"
// Delay in seconds added to z_ghost_delay_max for SI bots spawning in versus
// -
// Default: "5"
director_si_more_delay "5"
// Enable Tank health to be adjusted. Requires director_auto_difficulty 1
// -
// Default: "1"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
director_tank_auto "1"
// 1: Allow extra first aid kits for extra players. 0: No extra kits.
// -
// Default: "1"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
l4d_extra_first_aid "1"
// 1: Allow extra first aid kits for extra players when the finale is activated. 0: No extra kits.
// -
// Default: "1"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
l4d_finale_extra_first_aid "1"
// Give an ammo pack at round start for survivors? 1: Yes. 0: No.
// -
// Default: "0"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
l4d_give_ammo_pack "0"
// Max amount of infected (will not affect bots)
// -
// Default: "4"
// Minimum: "4.000000"
// Maximum: "24.000000"
l4d_infected_limit "4"
// Should we clear Lobby reservation? (Requires Left 4 Downtown/Left 4 DHooks.)
// -
// Default: "0"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
l4d_killreservation "0"
// 1: Allow extra medkits in survival for extra players when the round starts. Useful for certain maps. 0: No extra kits.
// -
// Default: "0"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
l4d_survival_extra_first_aid "0"
// If less infected players than l4d_infected_limit in versus/scavenge, spawn SI bots?
// -
// Default: "1"
// Minimum: "0.000000"
// Maximum: "1.000000"
l4d_versus_si_more "1"
[L4D(2)] Survivor Identity Fix for 5+ Survivors
There might be some instances where the identity fix in other plugins might not work in certain instances. If the identity of your survivors are not being saved on map changes, going idle, etc., you can try giving this a try and adding it to your plugins.
8 survivors in rescue vehicle
5+ survivors may show up as deceased during finale. I don't run into that issue, probably because a similar fix is included in one of the above plugins. If you do have this issue, using the listed stripper configs or one of the alternate plugins might fix this issue. Please note that this doesn't seem to fix the problem when there are more than 8 players. I tested with 10 survivors and 9 and 10 show up as deceased with the wrong model names as well.
Useful Extra Plugins
[L4D2] CampaignShift - To keep campaigns going instead of being kicked back to the lobby after the finale.
[L4D & L4D2] Gear Transfer - Allows transferring items such as molotovs, pipe bombs, defibs, etc. to teammates.
Drop Secondary Improved - Makes survivors drop their secondary weapons in addition to their primary ones when dying.
[L4D & L4D2] Respawn Rescue closet - You can also just use ABM's respawn menu although they will respawn with full heath. Either way, unfortunately respawn closets in the game can only respawn up to 3 survivors, creating closets with this plugin is a possible solution. Not sure if there is a way to make the game spawn more than 3.
[L4D & L4D2] No Friendly-fire - This plugin blocks damage which also blocks survivor responses. Alternatively, just add these lines to your server.cfg/listenserver.cfg file. Survivors will still respond to friendly fire.
[L4D2] Improved Automatic Campaign Switcher (ACS) - Personallly I prefer campaignshift, however I recommend to use the included MissionManager and MissionManager AdminMenu plugins included in the bundle to give you easy campaign switching menus.
Tonblader's Stripper config.
Restarting the round is necessary when using SuperVersus for survivor management.
On a dedicated server, I get message box stating "NAV ERRORS" "Map is unplayable!". The map still works ok. Strangely this error does not appear on a listen server. You may not run into this issue.
Dedicated Server & 8 Player Lobby
It's recommended to use a dedicated server for plugins, a local host/listenserver can exhibit weird bugs and crashes. I will outline a simple way to install a dedicated server. Normally it's recommended to use SteamCMD however there is a simpler way.
With Steam open, make sure that you have the option to show all tools and uninstalled items, as shown here.
Look for Left 4 Dead 2 Dedicated Server and install it. It'll be an extra 9GB give or take. While you can hit play and start your dedicated server this way, it is not recommended since it will exhibit some weird bugs, such as not detecting steamids of players and showing them all as 0:0. Steam will also show you as "playing" the dedicated server, even if you are playing L4D2. This means they can't easily join your lobby or game from the main menu and will have to connect directly. You would also have to setup Sourcemod with username and password authentication since steamid will be borked, which is not recommended. While starting it this way does let you start and stop the game and server at will, it causes too many weird issues.
Credit to Dragokas for inspiration on this part. For simple LAN server to play with friends, create a batch file, such as "runserver.bat" in the \common\Left 4 Dead 2 Dedicated Server folder, with the following code:
We don't really need the extra -debug and -condebug options but you can add them if you wish. To play with people over the internet, change sv_lan to 0 and forward the port in your router. The values in your server.cfg will override what's here. I personally prefer to remove "-console" to get an old-school looking interface to launch your server. It is limited in that it won't allow you to select all maps, however that doesn't matter because the server will load whatever you pick from the lobby anyway. The main reason I choose the gui is because it has autocomplete when typing in commands and values.
You can then create a shortcut to the batch file and place it on your desktop. To play on the same machine as the dedicated server, you can launch the batch file before starting Steam. If you do that, you can start and exit L4D2 as many times as you want as long as the server is still running. If Steam is already running, you have to launch L4D2 first, and then the server. When done this way, if you exit L4D2, Steam will show that you are already "playing" L4D2 and will not let you launch it. The only way to get back in without closing your dedicated server is to launch the L4D2 game executable directly. You will get a message box saying that you are running it with the -insecure option since that is how we have the server launched. You can ignore it since we are not playing on Valve servers.
To run commands inside your game, you will need to add your steamid to the \addons\sourcemod\configs\admins_simple.ini file. You can use a steamid finder online or copy your steamid from abm log file if using that plugin. To give yourself admin privileges, just add
PHP Code:
"STEAM_1:0:1234567" "z"
to the file as an example.
To change variables from within the game and run some commands, you will need to add
PHP Code:
rcon_password "PASSWORD"
to both the server.cfg of your dedicated server and the autoexec.cfg in your game folder (create it if it doesn't exist). Most plugin commands should just run as is without needing rcon, such as ABM commands. I recommend binding your most commmonly used commands to keys.
You can load and unload sourcemod plugins without restarting your server. If you add new plugins or move some to the disabled folder you can use "sm plugins refresh" and sourcemod will unload plugins that are no longer there and load any new plugins. If you are replacing a plugin with the same name you will have to use "sm plugins load nameofplugin.smx" or the number listed using "sm plugins list".
8 Player Lobby - Allows you to start the game with only 1 player. Requires you to choose it from custom mutation list and then change game type to your desired one.
You can also install both addons, which will allow you to start game with only 1 player without going through the mutations menu.
In your client's autoexec.cfg file, make sure to add your server's ip and port numbers, whether you're playing on the same computer as the dedicated server or if on another computer.
PHP Code:
mm_dedicated_force_servers "ip:port"
If you don't, you will have to run this command every time you start the game.
Then just pick "Best Available Dedicated Server" when creating your lobby. If your are running a listen/local server, just pick the "Local Server" option and make sure you started the game with the -insecure launch option.
If playing a LAN game, all players on the network will see your name in the lower left hand corner of the main menu screen where they can then join your lobby. Should also work for people on your friends list over the internet. Just remember to forward the port in your router. If players over the internet have issues joining the game when you start it from the lobby, they can just connect directly using "connect ip:port".
If loading screen gets stuck, just press ESC key ones and the map will finish loading. It doesn't happen when loading a campaign for the first time, but it does happen when advancing to the next map, at least for me.
Server Config
This can be either your server.cfg file (dedicated server) or listenserver.cfg (listen/local server).
PHP Code:
sv_maxplayers "8" //max number of players that can join the server
sv_force_unreserved "1" //allows player to join server past the normal limit of the gamemode, such as 4 for coop
sv_allow_lobby_connect_only "0" //allows players to join game through other means besides the lobby
sv_lan "1" //whether to allow public connections or not
sv_pausable "1" //allows pausing the game, only recommended for LAN games or playing with friends
rcon_password "*****"
motd_enabled "0"
sv_consistency "0" //whether the server enforces file consistency for critical files
sm_cvar precache_all_survivors "1" //preload all survivor models to prevent possible crashes
//sm_cvar sb_all_bot_game "1" whether bots will keep playing when all human players are dead or leave the game
//variables below are only if you want to decrease/disable friendly fire in all difficulties
sm_cvar survivor_friendly_fire_factor_normal "0.01" //default 0.1
sm_cvar survivor_friendly_fire_factor_hard "0.01" //default 0.3
sm_cvar survivor_friendly_fire_factor_expert "0.01" //default 0.5
I host a lan server, so that's why I have sv_lan set to one and sv_pausable set to 1. If you are playing with friends across the internet or strangers you can set both of those to 0. You can choose to enable the all bot game setting, the server will still keep going after everyone leaves if you choose to enable that option. The message of the day is obviously not needed, but can you set it to one to set a custom message just for fun. The file to put your custom message is motd.txt
For managing your server in game, don't forget to add your steam id to the sourcemod admins_simple.ini file.
I also have tried friendly fire disabled but you can also just reduce the percent damage instead. Probably the lowest you can try setting it for each difficulty is 0.01. You can try to keep setting it lower but the game has a set limit.
More than 8 players
While this setup might work great with up to 8 players, bugs start appearing with more than 8 survivors. I have only tested using bots, but none of the listed plugins/stripper configs are able to fix the issues with survivors over 8 appearing deceased in a finale. I'm sure there might be more bugs besides this.
Also note that any player over 8 has to connect manually using "connect ip:port" in the console. Not sure if using the friend feature in the lower left hand corner of the main menu screen will let them join the server, most likely not.
Linear Mode
