War3Source/War3Source — pull request #105 by War3Evo (2013-08-16 10:31:48+00:00)
Title: New methods for Load, Unload, and Reload races w/options.  Example Race, and faster map changing options.

Added 2 Convars:

war3_load_racesanditems_every_map
war3_load_war3source_cfg_every_map

The 2 options above can shorten the time on loading from map to map. They are off by default and can be switched on at the will of the server owner.

I understand a race reloading method has already been created, this my customized version of race reloading which I have spent the last 3 months making sure it works correctly. It took around a whole week of non-stop programming just to get this version running along with the help of ownz. The whole concept behind this version is to completely covered all the ground and leave no trail behind.

The main concept is to fully automate the race unload / reload process with a knowing time lapse in between. To be able to unload a race, remove it from the server for a few hours. You give the race to maybe a developer or programmer to work on it. You come back with the revised race and load it back in and keep players happy. The great thing about unloading the race and removing it from the server with this update is that there are no "holes" or "blank races" where users might think a race exists or ask those annoying questions about what is wrong with the changerace menu!

The complexity of this race reloading system has been time tested on a live server.

I have added my own custom method of race reloading that specializes in race reloading while developing on a running server with groups of players playing. My race reloading method will allow any developer to unload their their reloadable race, erase it from the server, a map or three later bring it back on to the server, and if they players that was still playing that race is playing on the server, when the race is loaded back into the server, it will put them back into the race.

The server owner has the option for custom reload to create a changerace menu popup when unloading a race. It is default off.

If a race would be unloaded for a short time, lets say 5 minutes, then if a player would try to type changerace to pull the menu up, they would see "Race Unloaded" menu item which would be disabled for picking it. If the server owner has removed the race from the hard drive on the server, and forgot about putting it back into the server, my method will continue to display "Race Unloaded" in the change race menu until the next restart of the server.

Please do accept my method of race reloading. It will not change how the current server owners use war3source, as it proves a new way to load/unload/reload new races. If they already know how to unload / reload / load any sourcemod plugin, then it will be easy as 1 - 2 - 3.

Just added a way to load races during server a run.

The server owner loads a race like a normal sourcemod plugin:

sm_rcon sm plugins load war3source\War3Source_029_DwarvenStronghold

then types in:

war3_forceloadraces

If this is a setup like a custom re-loadable race, then it will load just fine.