Rainbows sneak preview news - ARRANGEMENT Mod for Half-Life

"...for interact with computers"
"...fake OS"

I did show some random stuff there just for the video, I just dropped a few files and folders and the code did everything automatically. Yep, is that powerful.

To reply your answer: no, and no. But both things can be done.

The idea is using it to play around with random machines, just for fun or for accomplish some tasks (get/delete a file, switch something, get codes for keypads, and sooooooooooooo on).

but arent those real files?
if u r going to get a password for a door which is in a text file, that file isnt in your computer?
u said the OS works with real files

Excellent good freaking point!

Never thought of so! The content of the files will be encoding now!

So... this sentence "delarobe = win" will be encoding to "dhldŠ’zˆp pÚ1"

Thanks!

got it
but i think i would be better if it didnt work with real files
for a lot of reasons:
-u will have a lot of files in your pc that wont be useful (only within the game)
-if u or some1 delete a essential file, the game wont work anymore (like u wont find the passcode)
and some other reasons that i forgot now
at least u guys could put all the files in one file, like a your own "zip" or something like a database, all files would be together and no1 would have access to it, only inside the game
i guess there r somethings that would be much better than a ingame OS
like a system where ppl could add custom missions (a list that shows all custom missions u have downloaded or made)
maybe a cover system (killzone 2 is a firstperson shooter but has cover system)
and some other things that if u want to hear ask me, but honestly, idk about the other ppl, but i think that this OS would be more like a pain in the *** than a good feature =p
sorry sysops

Having seperate text files isnt a problem, because they are all tucked away in a small folder in a subdirectory of the mod. Deleting them wont happen, and if you start deleting random folders in your mode (like say your map, models or DLL folder) then you shouldnt be surprised if your mod stops working :D

From a mappers point of view this system is incredible, because you can use it to trigger entities (like for example, doors, cameras, level changes) so you can pretty much do anything in the game through the computer. Plus you can read text files, look at photos, play sound files. This is some pretty powerful stuff and can add great background flavour for missions (such as photos of targets/overhead satellite images/documents etc).

One thing i think this will be best for is when you want to have 3 or 4 buttons, like say 4 cameras, in 1 place.

I think most computers will be simple to use - like a camera computer will have the camera links on the desktop and the documents will be locked, or have nothing of value in.

Oh i think i misread your post - you dont browse your own computer using the OS, we create a simple 'fake' OS that you can browse and we make up all the files that are on the computer, you dont have to navigate through all your mod folders trying to find the right one! That would be a bit silly :P

i know, i guess u didnt u understand wrong before but u did it now, but dont worry, i know how it works

"you can use it to trigger entities (like for example, doors, cameras, level changes)"
i didnt think about that
"background flavour for missions (such as photos of targets/overhead satellite images/documents etc)."
it would be nice, didnt think about that
but like, play music in the pc is useless
but listening a phone conversation file is nice
hack into a target email to find out something looks cool too
anyway,i guess its the way u guys use it
but i still think that too many files in the pc would be bad

If you remove this new feature, you would be still having many files :P

Adding the whole game in a PAK file could work, but, anyways, there's no need for the user to mess with game's folder.

I wonder because... you did spot something great on the codes and such but dunno how or why you crossed the line and did that weird comment about the amount of files.

If amout of files is your problem, then starting deleting your Windows folder my friend, lol

lol
well, idk, do as u want
i guess red_ned and u r right, this is a great feature but it need to be used wisely

it means that you can make a fully functioning computer ingame, so you play through a map, shoot up some guys, hack their computer, and then can actually USE that computer, instead of the game automatically uploading/searching/etc. the computer, it actually lets you search a virtual computer for key codes, intel, passwords, etc.

Alright, so the video was all recorded while using Half Life.. It's amazing :/
One of the things I've always missed in games, a 'real' computer.. I hate those fake computers that require only one button to download top secret information.

There's support for images, text and such... so, that could be done. I don't think I'm going to add it since it could distract the player but, time will see.

;)

Oh, I'll need to get a vid about that! Thanks!

Yeah, actually, the "oh, I can use a computer" thingy was going to be _simple_ but... *sigh* I made it this way. Yeah, that's me :(

it breaks immersion to do something necessary in real life?

I get what you say and it's totally correct.

Being this mod "realistic" means I'll need to give the player certain approach to real life stuff.

Let's suppose you need to find a code for open a door, and, to do that, you'd need to use two computers. So far so good. You use one says nothing, you use the other one and you see a BIG image with a BIG number with the code, outta nowhere.

...

.....

Sounds... kinda... ok but not interesting enough.

Now... let's suppose each one of these computers are filled out with files and folder. There's content there, and even a OS you could use. You can mess around with different computers, spy the files, read stuff. Of course, you can do that in real life, but you will get caught.

Codes and infos will be _easy_ to obtain though. Doesn't means you will have to browse 10000 folders to get what you want, but if the player wants to investigate or sneak around on the PC, he will have the chance to do so ;)

Thanks for the comment!

VGUI is simple, based on Windows (parenting system, childs, events, and so on and so fourth).

And it's awesome because you only have two coordinates (X,Y).

I can teach you over msn on my spare time. Isn't hard at all.

;)

I'd like that. :)