Thanks to numerous folks stacking tons of items and/or blowing up stuff/generally lagging the hell out of the server, I would recommend disabling exploding barrels, blue barrels, dynamite, CS crates, and the stack command for regular users. Reserving those for VIPs and admins. I've seen it done on other places, though they tend to go overboard and disallow almost everything. More than once I've signed on and the stacked crap or barrel debris near the spawn has crashed the gmod client or created massive screen-lag. The amount of deathmatch-morons has decreased with the bans, but the issue of lag-induced crashes should be addressed now.
I think that banning those props is going way overboard... I'd consider making the stacking command VIP only, but banning those props is too much.
Well, now, what do you mean VIP? The partial admins? Or are you asking Espeon to create a VIP system? As far as banning goes, I see no reason why anyone needs dynamite for anything other than killing people (Except cannons, I guess...), so it could probably be banned/reserved. That's what most of the spawnkilling lately has been done with. If there were some way to make it so you can't stack exploding barrels, that would be good. Though barrels are mostly used for death, they can also be a tool of humor (That usually involves death....). (actually, since the server move, barrels haven't crashed it. And only lag while exploding in large numbers. We needed a server reset due to lag with no props once, so I stacked a big pile of the things. They exploded, and nothing happened.) And banning blue barrels and CS crates makes no sense. Eh, I don't know. Making the stack command VIP/admin-only seems harsh, since some people DO come in randomly and make cool stuff with it. But it would end a lot of Mingery. It would also mean I (and a LOT of other people) can't build anymore. Hmm.
My reason for including the CS crates is from the forts that people make out of them. Several times people have grumbled about how the forts bog things down. However, if only the stack command were to be reserved for the VIPs/admins, that may work as well. As for my definition of a VIP, they'd be people that are regulars that have shown that they understand the rules in place, don't go about on senseless killing sprees, help out the newbloods, etc. They'd also be able to use the stack command and/or spawn things that regular folks aren't able to, yet aren't an admin to lord power over the peons. Some people become tyrants when they have admin commands at their disposal. Take Day of Defeat for example, disagree with some people on there (even in a non-hostile manner) and you get a ban. In essence, the Might-Makes-Right mindset. In any case, my original idea was trying to come up with a way to reduce the amount of lag without stripping away the ability to create some nifty things.
Anyone else have any other comments or ideas on how to cut down on the mingery? I want to hear everyone's ideas on what we should do so we can come up with some sort of solution.
Ban everyone but me. Jk. I like the VIP idea. If people want to have access to xstack, they could join the forums and ask for it. I realize it wouldn't give it to them right away, but at least it'll separate the people who want to build from spammers and minges.
Actually thats a good idea to have them register here. I can put something in ECS that says normal users lack access to e_stack and to register on the forums if they want to be able to stack, and I'll add those users as VIPs in ECS. This seems like a reasonable idea to me.
Would it be possible to make a lua script to ban people from using ecs? In addition you could also have a vote ban thingy for the times when an admin is not present. I believe that there is a level 0 in the ecs script which prevents them from doing anything...correct? The VIP idea is okay, but I have seen several people come in and actually make something good...meh.
Esp, I've tried to use it a couple of times. It didn't work. Either it's set so that guests don't have permission to use it, or it's not implemented.
I think the idea of asking people to register at the forums before receiving the -e_stack ability is a great idea. Not only would it cut down on those random people who sometimes come in and barrel-chain or create other general mess, but it could help build the FaceWAN community and in doing so, also attract more potential subscribers. I might argue for making the CopyGun a registered user thing too, as it's another tool minges can go waaaay overboard with. I also want to vouch for the server performance since the upgrade, though. Despite the crashes, there has been much less lag in the presence of a lot of props/dynamite, etc.
I was wondering that if there was a limit to -e_stack that the number of times where they can spwn it would fix the lag when people try to stack items in the same position 50 times causing a large lag
I believe you can limit the number of props that someone can spawn with each stack. If that is the case, lowering the number considerably might also be a deterent to building huge structures (100 at a time is a lot of any prop).
I've also exceeded it in trying to stack walls up. By like 30 props. If we could just get that votekick/voteban, we'd be so much better off.
