Grenade pickup oddity

[ReCycled]

It seems I'm getting more and more little error things that pop up in Quake when I'm on the server at Vanilla. I use grenades a lot - sometimes for the entire match. However when I spawn I'll go for the closest weapon just to have something. As I run over the weapon it is automatically activated as my current weapon until I decide on another in my inventory. This is the Quake default for the first weapon picked up (in Multiplay). However a few days ago I noticed if grenades are the first thing I pick up they are NOT activated. They are in my inventory but my blaster is still on. All other weapons activate (1st pick up). This has never happened before. I have to hit my bind to "use grenades". Again it's only on first weapon pick up, but it catches you off guard and is a pain to remember to use the bind to activate it.
I always connect in R1Q2, but changed my connection to Quake 3.20 just to see if there was any difference. Same problem.
 

[X'tyfe]

2 things: 1, grenades are explosive weapons and by default quake2 wont auto switch to them if they are the first weap or you are out of ammo with another. 2, grenades are considered ammo AND a weapon at the same time and quake2 may not auto switch because of that as well.

I suggest setting yourself up with some custom weapon switch binds, I have some fancy ones done up in my own config on my TS webspace if you want to check those out.

[|iR|Focalor]

This brings up an interesting point.

I know that if I pick up grenades as my first weapon/ammo, I automatically switch to that as my weapon unless there is a grenade launcher right beside the grenades. In that case, if I run, I end up switching to the GL first. If I walk, I switch to the grenades first. So if something is different... then obviously something is different.

What I'd like to know is if there is a way to change how my game autoswitches weapons. If I'm using a railgun and run out of ammo, I end up switching to a supershotgun even though I have a chaingun and a rocket launcher. It takes me far more time to switch to that weapon when hitting the bind than it takes for one gun to run out of ammo and the next autoswitched gun to start firing.

[X'tyfe]

Such a thing could be done in a server side mod I would think, something for quadz to code into all the servers perhaps?

[peewee_RotA]

Safe weapons only are implemented for Out of Ammo weapon switching. When you are picking up your first weapon and have blaster selected then any weapon at all is fair game, including grenades.

3ZB and 3ZB 2 are bot spawning mods in which auto switching to grenades is disabled.
 
 

[console]

It seems I'm getting more and more little error things that pop up in Quake when I'm on the server at Vanilla. I use grenades a lot - sometimes for the entire match. However when I spawn I'll go for the closest weapon just to have something. As I run over the weapon it is automatically activated as my current weapon until I decide on another in my inventory.

Uh, sorry, I was testing something the other day and set "start_grenades 5" on vanilla.  Forgot to turn it off.  (So you were spawning with 5 grenades in your inventory.)


Regards,

[ReCycled]

OK , because I just checked grenade pick up at Pygmy, Mutant, Sheridan, Xatrix and X-Quake and they all work fine. That is if I pick up a nade as my first "weapon" and then press fire, I will throw a grenade.
 

[console]

OK , because I just checked grenade pick up at Pygmy, Mutant, Sheridan, Xatrix and X-Quake and they all work fine. That is if I pick up a nade as my first "weapon" and then press fire, I will throw a grenade.

Right.  Well if only you had known, you could have done "use grenades" on vanilla as soon as you spawned.

But it's turned off now...

[PANTONE 7717C]

by default quake2 wont auto switch to them if they are the first weap or you are out of ammo with another.

I think only the latter is true. If, after you (re)spawn, the first thing you pick up is ammo_grenades then it should switch to handgrenades by itself. [edit: aha I see that it was the 'start_grenades 5' server setting]  

I know that if I pick up grenades as my first weapon/ammo, I automatically switch to that as my weapon unless there is a grenade launcher right beside the grenades. In that case, if I run, I end up switching to the GL first. If I walk, I switch to the grenades first. So if something is different... then obviously something is different.

I'm almost certain that it has to do with the time between two weapon pickups (including ammo_grenades).
A good map to test this is dm4. At the hyperblaster on dm4, there is a grenade right next to it. If you pick up the hyper first and almost simultaneously pick up the grenade then the game keeps the handgrenade activated. But if you pick up the grenade first and the hyper last it keeps the hyper activated.
However! If you wait like a fraction of a second in between those pickups it always keeps the first thing you picked up activated. Even if the sequence is 'grenades' -> GL', if you wait just a bit it keeps the grenades as your current weapon. It's probably just timing related.

[peewee_RotA]

...However! If you wait like a fraction of a second in between those pickups it always keeps the first thing you picked up activated. Even if the sequence is 'grenades' -> GL', if you wait just a bit it keeps the grenades as your current weapon. It's probably just timing related.

Yeah the game runs almost all actions off of your current frame. If you pick up a weapon it will trigger change weapon which is a series of frames. Whatever you pickup will just keep changing your next weapon value until it hits the proper frame to start the gun up animations. This is technically a glitch because as soon as it triggers the change weapon frames it should no longer allow the next weapon value to change, however this is a good thing because in most  cases when grabbing the GL this will keep you from switching to the grenade ammo you just picked up.

[ReCycled]

[
Uh, sorry, I was testing something the other day and set "start_grenades 5" on vanilla.  Forgot to turn it off.  (So you were spawning with 5 grenades in your inventory.)

Regards,

So I always started with 5 free nades. Damn....
 

[UUD-40]

You have to use the blaster, it won't run out of ammo.



heh newbs...

[Cheaters-r-Scum]

Great!

I already wondered if it was all in my head....
Some people must have seen when two days ago I repeatedly asked other players if they noticed a change in auto weapon switch behaviour or whether they were aware that they respawned not just with a blaster, but that whenever one respawned one already had some grenades!

I disliked this very much:
a) the fact that auto-switching to grenades no longer worked
b) the fact that you do not start with a mere blaster but already had some powerful grenades

Already having grenades from the start made it less interesting to walk around and look for grenades, so it took the fun away. I really hated that.

I am glad this is all sorted out again.


EDIT:
What I, however, still would welcome very much and sometimes complained about:
Having picked up a grenade and then getting a grenade launcher, I would like to auto-switch to having the grenade launcher activated because, for sure, I prefer the GL to the mere grenades.
But anyway, glad to have the old behaviour back!


Cheaters-r-Scum