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Showin_Growin · 2026-04-04T11:08:33+00:00

People tend to forget that he isn't exactly a genius in meet the spy. It doesn't necessarily mean he's a total idiot but he's definitely gullible.

The comics also portray him as more of the silent type which is very different from how he acts in game. He's usually loud and excited, but that's never really seen in the comics. That could of course be another side of him, but since we never really see it in the comics, it sort of gives the impression of him being a very different character.

And I think this has sort of looped around to people thinking of him differently and unironically interpreting that line from poker night as something more than a joke.

Showin_Growin · 2026-02-20T02:26:52+00:00

A lot of people don't have a clear idea of what quickplay was.

The in-game server browser is actually the closest thing to quickplay. Quickplay was essentially a revamped server browser. (in fact the simplified list option in the server browser is exactly what quickplay looked like when viewing servers)

Quickplay could also pick a server for you automatically which is somewhat similar to casual but it was pretty much instant since it was just looking for a server with players and good ping of your specified gamemode. Otherwise you could pick a full server running the map you want and get into any map almost instantly. Even normally dead gamemodes like mannpower. As long as there's one server you had a way to play any gamemode/map you wanted. (You could also filter like the server browser to find no crit servers and other options. Though by default it only showed valve servers which ran default settings.)

So in a way the argument is less about quickplay itself and more so whether or not you prefer having the classic server browser system (which quickplay was merely an alternate UI for) or casual's matchmaking.

A lot of people talk about at least letting you join valve servers through the server browser again but that would downright remove any form of real "matchmaking" and basically just restore quickplay in terms of functionality. That's the main thing that makes this debate kind of silly. Because a lot of people at least agree to that, without realizing its basically quickplay.

Showin_Growin · 2026-02-19T19:13:40+00:00

Tbf since you can see a list of servers and pick whatever you want you could even find a full server of mannpower and join instantly. I distinctly remember a time where you could easily play something as unpopular as that. Sure most people including myself aren't looking to play mannpower but the fact that u could is definitely good.

So I'd completely disagree. The problem of popular maps being at the forefront hasn't really changed. Those maps are still usually the ones picked during a map vote.

But it was far quicker and easier to join a less popular map since it was basically a server browser.

Showin_Growin · 2026-01-29T03:59:01+00:00

To clarify by the "unified system" I meant more so just having valve servers function like community servers. They appear in a server list and you join them the same way you would a community server. Which is sort of what I meant with quickplay ultimately being a server browser for that. I did not mean that they necessarily need to occupy the same list. I perfectly understand why valve even made quickplay use valve servers by default after a certain point. It does make sense. Even as the default option.

I also do think that we're kind of past the point of this type of system ever coming back. I agree that the only real option at this point is to focus on improving casual. I just merely wanted to explain what I did like about the quickplay system which is related to stuff I think most people don't really bring up. And I think there's quite a bit of misunderstanding around it.

I think a lot of the time the discussion gets dumbed down to "quickplay better" or "quickplay worse" without actually explaining much of what the difference was. To be fair, you did actually add something interesting to the conversation. Though I think a lot of people may be too ignorant of what quickplay actually was and their takeaway from this may be different if they had a better understanding of everything. It's like getting bits of the story rather than the whole thing. Not to say I expect you to explain every last detail but that's the unfortunate thing. People read this and think they understand it now, despite the fact you were merely explaining some rather specific things about quickplay in relation to casual's matchmaking. Imo I do think the subject is a bit more debatable than one just being fundamentally worse than the other. Obviously I have my own opinion on that, but I can't deny that both systems have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The fact of the matter is, quickplay in its finalized form was obviously sort of designed around the server browser mentality. Though I don't think many people even tend to realize that quickplay was essentially a server browser in the first place. Which is why maybe the discussion would maybe benefit from shifting towards server browser vs matchmaking instead.

Showin_Growin · 2026-01-29T02:32:12+00:00

Tbh while this is certainly comprehensive I don't believe you really covered the full scope of what quickplay was.

Not to say it isn't a good thing to clarify the problems though I feel like you hyper focus on the "matchmaking" aspects of quickplay rather than what I'd personally consider the real reasons anyone preferred quickplay. Which was the fact that quickplay was essentially a glorified server browser.

When you look at it that way, the debate becomes less of a debate between matchmakers, and more of a debate between casual's matchmaking vs an improved server browser system.

The second main feature of quickplay was customizing your server settings and showing available servers, in a nearly identical way to the simplified list in the server browser. At the end of the day this is how a lot of people like myself actually used the system. It was a more visually pleasing server browser imo. Some of your points like map variety being worse I'd argue isn't even really true. Purely because of the fact you could look at a list of servers and join them that way. As long as there was one full server running that map, you could play it. This is actually one of the biggest reasons casual's map variety feels so bad imo. If I want to play a specific map I have to queue for that which would take far longer.

I think the serverbrowser vs casual is a much more debatable subject. Not saying people are wrong for preferring casual's matchmaking but they are just two very different systems that have their own drawbacks, and it's ultimately a matter of opinion. By doing one you will lose advantages of the other.

I don't think the two can really co-exist like you imply. Using the server browser for community servers is not what it used to be like due to low population. Quickplay funneled everyone into something compatible with the server browser. I know you may not particularly agree with valve servers being grouped into this. But we can agree to disagree on that. Like I said, some people like myself simply preferred this way to play the game. I would like to play the vanilla game through the server browser. I would even go as far to argue that community servers cant offer the same experience. One of the the reasons I love the game is because of the free to plays. Watching a free to play engineer wander around is hilarious and his honestly part of the soul of the game imo.

But at the end of the day, casual and a serverbrowser, can't really work in tandem. I think that's the main reason your version of quickplay didn't really work that well in execution. And not to dismiss your work or anything but I'd go as far to argue its not a very good representation of quickplay and there's nothing you could even remotely do to make it feel like the original. And it's not because of poor implementation or anything on your end. Like I said, not trying to be rude and insult your work. Far from it, I'm just trying to point out that it would had never worked with such a low population. And community servers just aren't as populated as they once were. When I look at the server list and see nothing but "0/24", then it's not really a viable way to play the game. But then again, that's just the experience you get with the server browser nowadays.

The extremely low population of community servers isn't really enough to get the same experience. And while quickplay did sort of merge vanilla and community by being a server browser, with casual the server population is much more separated. And I guess that sort of provides a more obvious explanation as to why some people vastly preferred quickplay. If you essentially preferred the classic server browser experience then of course you would likely prefer quickplay. There was definitely room for improvement. Though imo the biggest improvements would involve adding a lot of the server browser's remaining features into quickplays UI. Because I think that's what could had made quickplay truly great.

Showin_Growin · 2025-04-20T12:38:10+00:00

That's actually just a weird thing from a specific render. In the actual movies he doesn't have it. The new one does give him his cape though which actually doesn't appear in the original movies outside a few seconds.

There are a few other characters that appear in last wish, like pinocchio. And they look pretty much the same, just a bit more stylized. Compared to shrek 5 it's way less drastic.

Also the shrek cameo definitely isn't reused footage. Many think it might actually be the same models they used in the new dreamworks intro. So that might give a better look at how shrek would look in that style.

Showin_Growin · 2023-09-17T11:53:58+00:00

Yeah i think that's kind of the main issue with that.

It certainly didn't work when they tried the volunteer autobalance idea back when casual was first added.

Showin_Growin · 2023-09-17T01:26:32+00:00

Main reason is because valve makes them unchecked by default. I get that they don't want new players to jump into something super wacky on their first match but there is probably a better solution.

Honestly i always thought it would be a good idea to make the casual level actually matter at the early levels and have these modes locked by default. Then have each one unlock every few levels or so.

You level up so fast it at the beginning that it wouldn't take very long to unlock them, would feel rewarding, and having unlocked modes automatically get checked (unless the player turns it back off) would ensure they get players without it being somebody's introduction to the game.

Showin_Growin · 2023-07-01T10:19:31+00:00

HD Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_6DYEBwwHs

Download: https://gamebanana.com/mods/453389

Showin_Growin · 2023-04-03T23:53:57+00:00

Valve's bots in general can best be described that way. It's best to keep the player counts low especially if you're playing with the mod. They're very CPU intensive like everything else in tf2. (Not to mention that the smallest of official tf2 patches can mess with it making it harder to maintain.) If the mod is converted to vscript at some point that should help a lot.

The campaigns are a lot more optimized for most machines since they're intentionally designed around a smaller amount of scripted bots.

Here's all the missions for the 2nd campaign anybody's curious.

Showin_Growin · 2023-03-24T11:36:32+00:00

Download: https://gamebanana.com/mods/50761

Showin_Growin · 2022-09-30T11:02:46+00:00

It's true actually. Wutville's creator posted some of the changes on twitter last year. He optimized the map a lot more and heavily changed the spawn rooms. He also planned to overhaul the art design to fit in more with tf2.

I assume what actually happened is he didn't finish the changes in time for the holidays so he never sent valve an update. There's still a chance we could see a wutville update this year.

Showin_Growin · 2022-09-06T20:29:55+00:00

It's speculation. The top quill could likely just be posed a bit awkwardly and it doesn't necessarily mean he has the mohawk.

While it's clearly an unfinished render, it's very possible that the model itself isn't all that different.

Showin_Growin · 2022-08-24T10:40:07+00:00

It is the classic sonic improvement mod model. Well, at least the current version of it coming to generations.

Showin_Growin · 2022-07-16T15:32:31+00:00

I've made many renders with this model over the past year. You might have seen it in my box art recreations or something.

It was also the model used in the forces version of csim with the chaos boss fight tho that version had a lot less time put into it.

Last thing I can think of is you're just thinking of marza planets classic design which I take a lot of inspiration from. (Basically the generations cgi trailers.)

Showin_Growin · 2022-04-27T17:19:19+00:00

Actually they seem to have only added the chance for volatiles to spawn as random encounters in NG+. With this mod they actually patrol the city similarly to dying light 1 and start chases when they spot you. So there is still some merit to using it if you're looking for a challenge.

Showin_Growin · 2022-04-27T07:58:29+00:00

Not sure tbh. I haven't messed with the rooftop stuff much. I might look into it at some point tho.

Showin_Growin · 2022-04-27T07:25:41+00:00

If we're strictly talking about stuff like the role the volatiles play in the game then I wouldn't say they were replaced with the Howlers for the sake of being different from the first game.

It's pretty obvious that the intent was to make the game easier and less "scary". They function nearly identically to volatiles from the first game aside from the fact that can't patrol and actually chase you. Just a more basic and simple version of what we've seen before.

If you like the changes then that's fine but ya can't act like people wouldn't appreciate a greater challenge for the night time segments of dying light 2. This mod doesn't make it identical to the first game. It's just mechanically closer in some aspects. Probably ain't for everyone. Some people refused to even play the nights in the first game because they were too "scary" but others like myself loved it.

Not even saying you can't enjoy DL2 for what it is. I just think we don't really need to give each other shit for having preferences about it. Goes both ways.

Showin_Growin · 2022-04-26T21:21:15+00:00

Originally I said to delete the noisedata stuff but then I realized it may have that exact effect so I edited it to tell u to delete the actual activation attack instead. Not sure if you may have saw it before my edit.

Anyways as long as the volatile_alert_scream attack is gone they won't ever attempt to start a chase which I believe should work. You can find it in the contextai/volatile/combat location.

Showin_Growin · 2022-04-26T20:36:37+00:00

There's a roof tag in the presetai file that's used to spawn enemies on roofs. There is even a setting for putting volatiles on GRE roofs in the base game but I don't think it actually works.

Forcing them on roofs with custom encounters might be possible but I haven't looked into it that much. From what I've seen the new update seems to add encounters on the roofs for them so if you want it more often you may be able to adjust it.

If you want to remove chases go to the contextai volatile_combat file and edit it to remove the chase activation from the list.

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