CFC Random Spawn

CFC's Implementation of random spawn points for use with maps that have spawns which are less-than-ideal for PvP

Overview

Not all maps have desirable spawns, and gmod doesn't easily allow you to modify them. Also, we cannot rely on random chance to not give poor spawns from time to time. For example, in a PvP setting, many players have started fighting in a specific place, spawning in the middle of this before having chance to get weapons/a better position can lead to being spawnkilled, and an unpleasent experience.
This project aims to be the solution to these problems, providing simple spawnpoint configuration, and automatic spawnpoint ranking based on player proximity.
It also allows map specific spawns, allowing you to change map as you would normally, and the spawn points will automatically change to whatever you have configured.

Installation

Clone or download this repository into your garrysmod/addons folder and restart your server/game.

Usage Instructions

The config for this addon is located in the cfc_random_spawn/lua/cfc_random_spawn/sv_config.lua file.
Here you will find 2 config constants, and the spawn points table structure. The constants are as follows:

• DEFAULT_CENTER_CUTOFF (default 3000) - Default cutoff range from the most popular pvp center, where players further away from this will be ignored. The system tries to place you closest to everyone else.
• CLOSENESS_LIMIT (default 400) - Will not choose spawnpoints that are within this many units of a valid player (i.e. a living pvper). 0 to disable.
• SELECTION_SIZE (default 8) - Max number of 'ideal' spawnpoints to select from randomly.
• CENTER_UPDATE_INTERVAL (default 60) - The gap (in seconds) between each center popularity update. If set to 0, will update on every respawn.
• IGNORE_BUILDERS (default true) - Should 'center popularity' and player position average not care about builders? Requires a PvP addon which has a function of the form PLAYER:IsInPvp()

Adding spawnpoints is done as follows:

• Create an entry to the CUSTOM_SPAWNS table for the map of your choosing, as follows:

  CFCRandomSpawn.Config.CUSTOM_SPAWNS["gm_bluehills_test3"] = {
    centerCutoff = NUMBER,
    pvpCenters = {
        { centerPos = VECTOR, overrideCutoff = NUMBER },
        ...
    },
    spawnpoints = {
        { spawnPos = VECTOR, spawnAngle = ANGLE, pvp = BOOLEAN },
        ...
    }
  }

  Where
  • centerCutoff overrides DEFAULT_CENTER_CUTOFF for this map
  • centerUpdateInterval overrives CENTER_UPDATE_INTERVAL for this map
  • pvpCenters: defines one or more central positions where pvp most often takes place around, with the first one being the fallback if there are no pvpers. If none are defined, will default to the average position of all spawnpoints for this map.
    • centerPos is the position for the pvp center
    • overrideCutoff overrides the map/default cutoff value for obtaining the average player position near this specific pvp center, useful for maps with many centers that vary heavily in size
  • spawnpoints:
    • spawnPos is the foot position of the spawn
    • spawnAngle is the view angle for the spawn
    • pvp is the pvp status of the spawn (currently does nothing)

Customizing spawnpoints

This addon provides a tool to help you create and remove spawnpoints. To enable this tool run cfc_spawneditor_toggle in console.

Features:

• To add / remove spawns cfc_spawneditor_spawnadd / cfc_spawneditor_spawndel
• To add / remove pvp centers cfc_spawneditor_centeradd / cfc_spawneditor_centerdel
• To change the cutoff radius for the current map cfc_spawneditor_cutoff
• To export the current map's spawnpoints to console use cfc_spawneditor_export, you can then paste this into sv_config.lua

Visual appearance:

Limitations

This addon is not finished, the following is required for completion:

• Currently pvp in the spawns table does nothing.
• The whole code could do with a bit of a cleanup, theres unused vars, params, old print tables, etc.
• Could make it possible for multiple pvp centers to be selected and then randomly chosen between (when under certain conditions) for maps with long and narrow or wide and sparse pvp areas that would benefit from having multiple centers grouped together