09. February 2020, 02:41:23 by saml1er | Views: 6500 | Comments: 25
Hello, I'm back to DDC as a developer. It has been 4 years since the community was moved to FFS. I always missed the old times, but I had to move on with my life. In 2017, I started learning C++ programming and reverse-engineering. After learning C++ and hacking, my programming skills improved, and I started contributing to MTA in 2018 and began developing it. I wanted to start my own server in MTA. After talking to NoHear, I thought even if DDC has less players, it's still the community where I have many old memories and met lots of great people.
There are some features that I would like to have in DDC server, but MTA has some limitations. It's not possible to have them in Lua. I wanted to lift those limits and add new features to MTA in C++. Technically, it's posssible, but, it's not that easy. If I break something in MTA, it will affect all servers. Due to this very reason, I didn't implement these features as I wanted to write code without the fear of crashing hundreds of servers. "What kind of features?" you might ask, features like, the ability to see hundreds of entities on screen without lag, customizable models (vehicles, peds, and objects), cool shader effects, and upgrading MTA to DX11.
DX11 Upgrade The most important feature that MTA desperately needs is upgrading to DX11. There is a project called "RenderHook," they have successfully upgraded GTA SA to DX11. This not only improved GTA SA graphics but also the performance.
How does this relate to DDC?Since it's not possible to have cool features in Lua that I want to implement, but we can have them if I write code in C++ and compile a custom MTA build. This means that players who wish to play on our server, they'll have to download the custom build from our website. They cannot join our server with standard MTA client. We're not the first ones to do this. There are some russian projects, who are providing a custom build of MTA on
their website, and they are very successful. I'll advertise DDC server, so nobody should to feel paranoid about how we're going to get players. If I can write C++ for our MTA server, then there are no limits. We can have any kind of feature we want.
So what now?I'm not going to immediately write a custom client. I first want to work on the race gamemode of DDC and improve it. In fact, I've already started working on it. I've decided to start with the UI design. Timboii is helping me with the design. If anybody else has good design ideas, I want you to know that I'd be happy to work with you.
Github IssuesWe'll use Github for bug-tracking and feature requests. If you want to report a bug or feature, then you'll need to create an account on Github and post the issue
HERE. This is how the issue page looks like:
But before you post an issue there, please make sure that you properly describe what you want. Try not to post any jokes there or go off-topic, because this is a serious project.
Project TimelineAs I'm coding the design for the current DDC MGM, I'll implement new features as soon as we have something working. The new login panel is 90% complete, and you'll see it on the DDC server in a few days. Unlike last time, I'm no longer in a university, and I have free time for DDC, and I'll keep working on daily basis because I want to make DDC big.
The first phase is to improve the current race mode and add new features. It has been a few days since I came back, and I have made a lot of progress on the login panel, which is why it's nearly complete. I can't give you the exact timeline because I don't know what kind of features people want. So please, post your suggestions on ddc Github issue page.
DX11 Feature Levels Before I upgrade MTA to DX11, I want to know if our players can run DX11. I need everyone to send me their DX information. If you have an old PC or weak laptop, then it will be nice if you send me your DX information for the old computer as well.
1. Press Ctrl + R.
2. Write dxdiag in Run and press enter.
3. Click on "Save All Information..." and save the txt file on your PC.
4. Upload the txt file to pastebin and send me the link in PM.