Arena semi-multiplayer

[Viritus]

So, let's start by saying that there will never be legitimate multiplayer in the form of free roaming co-op, that's a given. It's not Elder Scrolls-y and the game wouldn't be immersive with your buddy T-bagging every corpse he could find.

But..

what if there was an arena in skyrim where once you signed up with a server that the game would connect to (we'll see how flexible skyrim's scripting will be) you could upload your character - complete with customization, equipment, stats, and perks, and download other character's files (sort of like the CM for oblivion). You could fight another opponent (at a set difficulty, of course - or at least with penalties and bonuses dependent on the difficulty) and give your character ranking points that would be uploaded on the server, based on how much health you had, how much health they had, ranking difference between the two - etc, and determine who would be assigned your character to fight and vice-verse. It would be half skill, half character-development strategy, and it would add a certain feel of community without imposing anything on the game itself.

 

Now i'm going to go full fantasy.

If bethesda were to HEAR THIS AND WORK HARD TO MAKE IT HAPPEN *ahem* - it would theoretically be possible to have this be a cross-console multiplayer experience. the character stats could be uploaded from your friends xbox version, fight with your other friend on his ps3 and you could fight the winner on your pc. Also, if it was an official DLC, they could have voice support, where an announcer might call someone's stage name, a la imperial arena in oblivion, where you can choose your arena name. You could even download the top ranking characters on the server to watch fight each other, and bet on the match, or fight multiple opponents at once. Maybe you could have a 2 on 2 fight or even 4 on 4, it wouldn't stress the system out any more than fighting the same amount of npc's, as the data would allready have been downloaded on to the system.

 

What do you guys think? Plausible?

[El`derina]

interesting... i like the idea, but i'll repeat my post in the previous topic in case you did not bother to read.

 

do alittle research on game networking. After you understand how every script would have to be re-written, source code would have to include functions to support, and many other things which I can not even begin to explain- then get back to us on this idea... as said above, as many times as this is brought up, it is too much of a headache, too much of an impossibility that it just isn't gonna happen.

Bethesda 'can't' give us support for this, because the game would have to be designed for multiplayer from the very begining. >.>

Modders who attempt this, simply 'fake' it... which results in some really bad gaming.

 

this would apply for isolated areas as well... the code 'already in existance' would have to be re-written to allow this and support multiplayer.

 

the only way i see this working nicely is creating it as a seperate game altogether that scans your save file... but thats too much work for too small a return, and too low a demand.

 

if this was possible in game, in an arena type thing as you proposed, it would also allow(make possible) full world gameplay which we have already establish is not posible to be done correctly as a mod... please think this through or do your research before posting, thank you- we have enough of these threads already.

 

as to your plea to bethesda to do something about it... I am sure you already know they said "Not now, Not ever"

do we really have to go there? I don't think so...

[PaladinRider]

I wish the mods would sticky something regarding multiplayer.. there's going to be a minimum of 5 threads a week about multiplayer for the next five years :facepalm:

 

It's probably easier to develop an entirely new game from scratch with multiplayer in mind then it is to turn Skyrim into a multiplayer. If you acknowledge that there will never be a multiplayer co-op mode, then how would there even be an arena style multiplayer? It's not a question of game logistics, it's the limitations of the game engine - which modders cannot access.

[Viritus]

interesting... i like the idea, but i'll repeat my post in the previous topic in case you did not bother to read.

 

do alittle research on game networking. After you understand how every script would have to be re-written, source code would have to include functions to support, and many other things which I can not even begin to explain- then get back to us on this idea... as said above, as many times as this is brought up, it is too much of a headache, too much of an impossibility that it just isn't gonna happen.

Bethesda 'can't' give us support for this, because the game would have to be designed for multiplayer from the very begining. >.>

Modders who attempt this, simply 'fake' it... which results in some really bad gaming.

 

this would apply for isolated areas as well... the code 'already in existance' would have to be re-written to allow this and support multiplayer.

 

the only way i see this working nicely is creating it as a seperate game altogether that scans your save file... but thats too much work for too small a return, and too low a demand.

 

if this was possible in game, in an arena type thing as you proposed, it would also allow(make possible) full world gameplay which we have already establish is not posible to be done correctly as a mod... please think this through or do your research before posting, thank you- we have enough of these threads already.

 

as to your plea to bethesda to do something about it... I am sure you already know they said "Not now, Not ever"

do we really have to go there? I don't think so...

 

I'm not sure that you know the difference between a small file transfer and a sustained connection between two people, or maybe you misunderstood what I was talking about and jumped to the usual presumptions. This would not be anything like co-op or even versus. nobody would be playing against anyone else. Skyrim allready features networking in a small fashion IE social networking updates and the 'small bug' fixing system. the point here is that you don't know what skyrim scripting will be capable of, so the fact that oblivion could not handle minute networking no longer applies here.

 

TLDR: this isn't oblivion. Advancements are to be expected, this was just an idea.

[PaladinRider]

I'm not sure that you know the difference between a small file transfer and a sustained connection between two people, or maybe you misunderstood what I was talking about and jumped to the usual presumptions. This would not be anything like co-op or even versus. nobody would be playing against anyone else. Skyrim allready features networking in a small fashion IE social networking updates and the 'small bug' fixing system. the point here is that you don't know what skyrim scripting will be capable of, so the fact that oblivion could not handle minute networking no longer applies here.

 

TLDR: this isn't oblivion. Advancements are to be expected, this was just an idea.

 

Here is the scripting "API" for New Vegas : Functions. Those were the functions you were able to use with the GECK in New Vegas.

 

There is a 95% chance that Skyrim will closely relate these functions. Probably different syntax, yet they make these functions for modding the game. My point is, Skyrim will contain likely similar scripting as New Vegas/Fallout/Oblivion, nothing in there is even remotely close to what you'd need to do. "Skyrim scripting" isn't even a real programming language, it is proprietary or developed internally with the intent to limit access.

 

The game engine itself is off limits. You would have to reverse-engineer the executable (illegal) to access anything inside the game engine to even consider a plan to add multiplayer support (Even something as seemingly simple as two people in a small one-cell arena).

It's not as simple as host a server, upload a plugin, allow people to log on with their characters and battle.

 

OBSE/NVSE comes to mind, but they inject additional functions into the function list, and still aren't able to access/edit the game engine.

Edited November 3, 2011 by PaladinRider

[Viritus]

I'm not sure that you know the difference between a small file transfer and a sustained connection between two people, or maybe you misunderstood what I was talking about and jumped to the usual presumptions. This would not be anything like co-op or even versus. nobody would be playing against anyone else. Skyrim allready features networking in a small fashion IE social networking updates and the 'small bug' fixing system. the point here is that you don't know what skyrim scripting will be capable of, so the fact that oblivion could not handle minute networking no longer applies here.

 

TLDR: this isn't oblivion. Advancements are to be expected, this was just an idea.

 

Here is the scripting "API" for New Vegas : Functions. Those were the functions you were able to use with the GECK in New Vegas.

 

There is a 95% chance that Skyrim will closely relate these functions. Probably different syntax, yet they make these functions for modding the game. My point is, Skyrim will contain likely similar scripting as New Vegas/Fallout/Oblivion, nothing in there is even remotely close to what you'd need to do. "Skyrim scripting" isn't even a real programming language, it is proprietary or developed internally with the intent to limit access.

 

The game engine itself is off limits. You would have to reverse-engineer the executable (illegal) to access anything inside the game engine to even consider a plan to add multiplayer support (Even something as seemingly simple as two people in a small one-cell arena).

It's not as simple as host a server, upload a plugin, allow people to log on with their characters and battle.

 

OBSE/NVSE comes to mind, but they inject additional functions into the function list, and still aren't able to access/edit the game engine.

 

you still haven't read what i'm talking about, or comprehended it correctly.

 

there are not two people here.

 

there is one PC and an npc with the other character's stats, equipment and possibly perks.

 

this is not actually multiplayer.

[El`derina]

you still haven't read what i'm talking about, or comprehended it correctly.

 

there are not two people here.

 

there is one PC and an npc with the other character's stats, equipment and possibly perks.

 

this is not actually multiplayer.

 

or maybe you didnt present your idea in a comprehesible manner... thats not multiplayer at all, not even semi-multiplayer as both your topic title and original post presented it as.

 

but yes,... THAT at least is possible- i think the scripting extended guys could pull it off.

but... it's a low demand idea.. very few people would care for it and too much work for too low a return.

 

and as to your comment as to me not knowing what the scripting system is capable of,.. apparently more than you.

[PaladinRider]

I understand your post now..

 

You want to stage a battle between you and an NPC dressed (with equal skills) as another person's character on the nexus. I vaguely remember someone made a doppelganger mod (a twin of yourself) with heavy use of NVSE (it might have been OBSE and oblivion). I'm not sure if it would be possible.. there's a slim chance that enough of the player stats and current equipment is saved in the saved game profile in which case you'd have to devise a way to load two save profiles. Modded content presents a whole new issue altogether.

Edited November 3, 2011 by PaladinRider

[armourdude]

The online Arena thing could be possibl if you did not tie it to the game it's self. You could not use your character from your game to play it in the arena. What you could do it to simply make a new game similar to existing MMOs but that is very small. It would only be the Arena and maybe a place for people to stand and watch. It would be all new code but it could be done in Elder Scrolls style. I suppose for your character you could have an overlay of sorts that would import what your Game Character looks like and what they have for equipment. Would be a cool way to socialize and to see what kind of new armor mods people have.

[armourdude]

So, let's start by saying that there will never be legitimate multiplayer in the form of free roaming co-op, that's a given. It's not Elder Scrolls-y and the game wouldn't be immersive with your buddy T-bagging every corpse he could find.

But..

what if there was an arena in skyrim where once you signed up with a server that the game would connect to (we'll see how flexible skyrim's scripting will be) you could upload your character - complete with customization, equipment, stats, and perks, and download other character's files (sort of like the CM for oblivion). You could fight another opponent (at a set difficulty, of course - or at least with penalties and bonuses dependent on the difficulty) and give your character ranking points that would be uploaded on the server, based on how much health you had, how much health they had, ranking difference between the two - etc, and determine who would be assigned your character to fight and vice-verse. It would be half skill, half character-development strategy, and it would add a certain feel of community without imposing anything on the game itself.

 

Now i'm going to go full fantasy.

If bethesda were to HEAR THIS AND WORK HARD TO MAKE IT HAPPEN *ahem* - it would theoretically be possible to have this be a cross-console multiplayer experience. the character stats could be uploaded from your friends xbox version, fight with your other friend on his ps3 and you could fight the winner on your pc. Also, if it was an official DLC, they could have voice support, where an announcer might call someone's stage name, a la imperial arena in oblivion, where you can choose your arena name. You could even download the top ranking characters on the server to watch fight each other, and bet on the match, or fight multiple opponents at once. Maybe you could have a 2 on 2 fight or even 4 on 4, it wouldn't stress the system out any more than fighting the same amount of npc's, as the data would allready have been downloaded on to the system.

 

What do you guys think? Plausible?

The online Arena thing could be possibl if you did not tie it to the game it's self. You could not use your character from your game to play it in the arena. What you could do it to simply make a new game similar to existing MMOs but that is very small. It would only be the Arena and maybe a place for people to stand and watch. It would be all new code but it could be done in Elder Scrolls style. I suppose for your character you could have an overlay of sorts that would import what your Game Character looks like and what they have for equipment. Would be a cool way to socialize and to see what kind of new armor mods people have.