Ravenous*DM
-=-=-=-=-=-

Contents:

1. About the mod
2. Special features
3. Strategy
-------------------
Install instructions:
	Unzip .zip file into c:\quake2\rav
	[replace 'c:\' with whatever your harddrive is]


=============
ABOUT THE MOD
=============

This is a new type of DM that has never been publicly seen before. It changes all of the 
rules of standard Q2 DM and skews into another dimension. You must be Ravenous... You must
be willing to murder and feast on the rotting flesh of your kills in order to become more
powerful. 
	Ravenous DM: Where the flesh in your stomach is the strength of your sole :^)

***Level System***
The first difference is that we have done away with frags. You receive points instead. What
is the difference you ask? 'FRAGS = KILLS - SELF DEATHS' In other words, your total frag
count stacks up depending on the number of kills you have (obviously), but for each time you
die at your own hands (ie: lava, slime, 'kill', etc) your frag count drops a level. In RAV, 
however, 'POINTS = KILLS - SUICIDES - DEATHS FROM OTHERS' the difference is that you do NOT
lose points for dying in slime or lava. Instead, the only way to lose a point is to suicide,
or to be killed by an enemy. There are exceptions to this rule and one is if you are 
killed by your own Nuke, but there are more (discussed later). 

The second major difference of this mod is that there are no weapons and is no ammo in any 
map. Every player initially spawns with 0 points and at Level 0. With more points, each
player moves up to higher levels achieving more ammo and weapons along the way. There are
10 levels (0 - 9) and the Leveling system is as follows (keep in mind that each level has 
the weapons that each previous level has):
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 0
-=-=-=-
WEAPONS:	Grenades, Blaster
AMMO:		Grenades	-	10

Level 1
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		2
WEAPONS:	Shotgun
AMMO:		Shells		-	60
		Grenades	-	25

Level 2
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		4
WEAPONS:	Super Shotgun
AMMO:		Shells		-	150
		Grenades	-	30

Level 3
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		6
WEAPONS:	Machine Gun
AMMO:		Bullets		-	100
		Shells 		-	150
		Grenades	-	35

Level 4
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		8
WEAPONS:	Chaingun
AMMO:		Bullets		-	300
		Shells		-	150
		Grenades	-	40

Level 5
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		10
WEAPONS:	Grenade Launcher
AMMO:		Bullets		-	350
		Shells		-	150
		Grenades	-	50

Level 6
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		12
WEAPONS:	Rocket Launcher
AMMO:		Rockets		-	40
		Bullets		-	400
		Shells		-	150
		Grenades	-	70

Level 7
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		14
WEAPONS:	Hyperblaster	
AMMO:		Cells		-	100
		Rockets		-	70
		Bullets		-	400
		Shells		-	150
		Grenades	-	100

Level 8
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		16
WEAPONS:	Railgun
AMMO:		Slugs		-	50
		Cells		-	220
		Rockets		-	100
		Bullets		-	400
		Shells		-	150
		Grenades	-	100

Level 9
-=-=-=-
POINTS:		18+
WEAPONS:	BFG10K
AMMO:		Slugs		-	100
		Cells		-	250
		Rockets		-	100
		Bullets		-	450
		Shells		-	200
		Grenades	-	120

[Side note: When you reach 30 points, you receive an automatic quad for your fine efforts]
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a stipulation to this system. You must keep in order with the Ravenous tradition
and KILL to receive the benefits of your level. For example, if you kill someone and they
make your total points 15, you are level 7 and have all of its benefits. But, if you are
killed, your strength is taken away from you. You respawn with 14 points and are still at
level 7, BUT you do not have any of its benefits until you kill again. So you will lose all
of your weapons and ammo if you die, but they will be returned to you as soon as you kill
again. Now in this example, I was dealing with gaining one point and losing one point per 
kill. That leads me to the next Ravenous feature.

***Point System***
If you are to become stronger and more powerful for each kill you have, shouldn't you gain
even more strength for killing someone that is twice as powerful as you? YES! Which is why
the point system works the way it does. If you are on a level lower than the person you kill
you take away all of the points of difference from your points (up to 20 points). In other
words, if you are lets say Level 2 with 5 points and you kill someone at Level 6 with 12
points. Instead of letting them get away only losing one point and you gaining only one, you
take 7 points from them so that YOU have 12 points and they have only 5. This means that
you will automatically be upgraded to Level 6 and they will be downgraded to Level 2.
The exceptions to the point system are:
a) if killer and victim are BOTH below Level 1, no matter what their difference in points, 
   the 1-point-taken/1-point-given system will be used. So, if you have -4 points and you 
   kill someone with 1 point, you will be simply at -3 and they will be at 0.
b) if killer and victim are BOTH at Level 9, the same 1 point system will be used. So, if
   you have 20 points and your victim has 26, you will be moved up to 21 and he will be 
   moved down to 25.
c) the maximum number of points any player can take from another is 20 points. So, if you 
   have 7 and you kill someone with 38, your points will total 27 and your victim's will
   total 18.

***Ammo***
Since no ammo spawns in the game, there has to be some way to refill your supply right?
Right. Every time you are level upped, your ammo supply is maxed out. And every time anyone
dies, an ammo pack pops out of their dead body (another form of motivation to get you out 
there powering up from corpses).

***New HUD***
There is a new HUD in Ravenous. Instead of having a fragcount or pointcount, in the top
right corner of your screen is your level. In the bottom right corner your grenades, shells,
and cells are always displayed (when you are at a level that receives them). To the left of
your ammo stats is the small icon that displays what is currently selected in your 
inventory. In the bottom left corner of your screen is your health, active weapon, and 
armor. Also in the bottom left corner is a picture of a lightning bolt (it shows for levels
1 and up). This icon tells you whether or not you can deploy a defense grenade, since only
one are allowed to be used at a time. If it's on the screen, you can throw one (if you have
enough grenades), and if it's not, you can't.

***Weapons and Speed***
If you are on a level from 0 - 3, your blaster will fire faster and be more potent than
those of all higher levels. Your shotgun will also do more damage and be faster.
If you are level 8, you receive the railgun, but it fires slowly. At level 9, it speeds on
up for you.

***Pain Sounds***
Simplest of the new features is that any client who has 10 or less health will make pain 
sounds. This will encourage him to get some health and indicate that you better get one more
shot in if you wanna win the gun fight. So if you hear an 'ugghhhh' or 'oohhhh'  be aware.


================
SPECIAL FEATURES
================

***Client Commands***
[I recommend binding these commands to some handy keys]

'stinger'  
	This activates a stinger.

'nuke'  
	This activates a nuke.

'spectator 1' (or 0)  
	This turns on (or off) spectator mode.

'level #' 
	Make # a number from 0-9. For use with cheats only. Set your level to whatever 
	the # equals.

'weaphigh'  
	Automatically selects and makes active whatever your highest weapon is. Good to use
	when Level upped in the middle of a gun fight.

'vote' 
	Votes to move to next map in rotation. If the majority of the players has voted,
	the next map will kick in. If there are only 2 players in the game, both must vote
	in order to go to the next map. If the 'same map' dmflag is enabled, voting will
	automatically be disabled.

'cancelvote' 
	If you have voted by accident or change your mind about it, you can use this command
	to rescind (take back) your vote.

'maplist' 
	Displays names of maps in maplist, total number of maps in list, and type of 
	rotation (sequential or random)


***Server Commands***
[I recommend setting these in your autoexec if running a server. If you are just playing as
	a client, don't bother worrying about these commands.]

'spectator_password'
	Allows  you to set a password required for players to use spectator mode.

'pointlimit'
	Replaces fraglimit (but 'fraglimit' can still be used because it's in the .exe).
	Sets the maximum number of points any one player can have before loading a new map.

'maxspectators'
	Max number of players who can use spectator mode.

'maxclients'
	Max number of players on the server.

***New Weapons***
-->Tractor Grenade: 
This new grenade sprays a beautiful shower of glitter up as it sucks your enemies in. 1
second after you toss this little beauty it will begin sucking in any enemies in the direct
vicinity that it can see. It can not pull enemies around a corner or on the other side of a
wall.
This grenade is available to all Levels from 0 - 3 and requires 2 grenades. 

-->Defense Grenade:
This is called the defense grenade because it acts like a little team soldier watching your
back and shooting slugs at any enemies in range. It is active for 30 seconds before it
self destructs. (hint: this can be destroyed by rockets and other grenades)
This grenade is available to any level with at least 20 grenades because that is how many it
requires to be used. Only 1 of these may be used at a time.

To use either of these grenades, simply push your 'use grenades' button and it will cycle 
through any and all available grenades (depending on your level and how much ammo you have).

-->Stinger:
This is a big, flashing green ball of love that will shoot a laser beam through any enemies
it can reach. 
This requires 220 cells, so it is only available to Levels 8 and 9. It is active for 10 
seconds before it disintegrates. 
To activate, use the 'stinger' command (bind [key] stinger).

-->Nuke:
This is a small, soccer ball-looking object that you shoot out. It rests on the ground for
30 seconds before exploding in a hugely destructive manner. However, if an enemy (or
defense grenade) comes near it before its ticker stops, it will also explode destroying
everyone nearby (including its owner). You do NOT receive any points for using this device
because it is too cheap a way to get kills. It is used to clear a room or just get rid of
some annoying player that won't stop killing you. After all, how can you feast on a dead
body if you have evaporated it? It will also take 1 point away from its owner... All of this
should tell you how destructive this bad boy is.
It takes 100 grenades, which makes it available to Level 7 and up.
Use the 'nuke' command to activate (bind [key] nuke).

***Skins***
There is one skin for each level arranged so that the lowest level has pink clothes and
every level higher has generally a darker clothed skin up to Level 9, which has a dark blue
skin. This will help you to seek out and destroy enemies whos strength you would like to
strip away and claim as yours.

***Player Identification***
There is no command to turn on/off player identification. Player ID is always active and 
will display the name and skin (of enemies you are directly pointing at) on the bottom of 
the screen. I always hate pushing 'ID' every time I spawn or respawn in games :^)

***Server: DMflags***
Standard Q2 dmflags with one exception.

Spawn NO health			1
Spawn NO items			2
Health Stay***			4 <---New dmflags	 
No falling damage		8
Instant powerups		16
Same map			32
Teams by skin			64
Teams by model			128
No friendly fire		256
Use Map List***			512 <---New dmflags
Force respawn			1024
Allow NO armor			2048
Allow target changelevels	4096
Infinite ammo			8192
Allow quad drop			16384
Fixed FOV			32768
Disable voting***		65536 <---New dmflags

If you are unfamiliar with dmflags, I will explain a little bit about them. These will set
all of the above listed features either on or off in your server. For example, if you wanted
to have 'No health,' 'No items,' and the 'Same map' as the only things working off of that
list, you would add up each dmflag and use the total as your 'dmflags' value. In this 
example you would use 'dmflags 35' and when you start up your server, those dmflags will be
in effect and none of the others would be. One more illustration of this example:
		No Health			   1
		No Items     			   2
		Same Map    		 	 +32
                    		        	------
		'dmflags' total  		  35

The first new dmflag is 'Health Stay' (dmflags 4). This will make all health (excluding 
megahealth and small health) to never disappear when used. 
If this dmflag is on, the health value willbe reduced to 10 and can be used once ever 
second per health. So, if you have 50 health and you stand on only one health box, it will 
take you 10 seconds to get back up to 150 (the maximum health). But, if there are more than
1 health box, you could step on them back and forth to increase your health in a more 
expedient fashion. If this dmflag is not set, large health will remain at +25 health points
and regular health will remain at +10 health points.

The second is 'Map List' (dmflags 512). This makes the serverside file 'maplist.ini' active
as the list of maps that will be in rotation. If dmflags 512 is not active, the maplist will
be inactive and when it comes time to load a new game, the maps that will rotate will be
chosen by Q2. Server has the option to change the maplist from sequential (going in order
from first to last) or random (choosing any old map in the list).
If you are running a server, you can find more information in the maplist.ini file provided
in the server pack. 
*side note: If dmflags 32 is active (Same Map), every new game will remain on the same map.
This dmflag overrides the 'Map List' dmflags.

The third new dmflag is 'Disable Voting' (dmflags 65536). If this dmflag is active, players
will be unable to 'vote' for the next map.

I would recommend using dmflags 532 for a good game of Rav DM. That will simply put Instant
Powerups, Health Stay, and Map List on. But, of course the choice is yours. Simply type 
'dmflags #' (where # is the value) in the console or place it in your server's config file.


==============
STRATEGY GUIDE
==============

There is a larger variety of players than I could ever imagine. With such a variety will 
spawn many, MANY different styles of play and strategies. This small strategy guide is just
what I would assume is the basic way one would play this game.

Ravenous DM's rule number one is Kill to Survive. The more players you kill, the more 
points you receive, and the higher a level you achieve. One way to go about getting all of
the points required to achieve a high level is to hunt down all low players (preferrably
lower than you) and massacre them. Since each kill will give you 1 point, after a few kills
you'll be on a decent level becoming more unstoppable with every kill. The other way to get
up to a high level is to find all enemies on a higher level (you can find them by their
skin) and kill them. The higher a level they are, the more points you get for killing them,
and the higher a level you become.

If you are on a level from zero to three, you can use tractor grenades. These little bad 
boys will suck in any enemies and grant you a point (or many points depending on their
level) for each player sucked into it. This may seem kind of trivial, but if you are on a 
low level and are faced with a ravenous player that is strapped with a rocket launcher or
a BFG, this is the best defense and offense at the same time. They will run from your 
grenade or be killed trying to kill you. Even though your blaster is faster and stronger 
below level 4, it will never be as fast or strong as a chaingun or railgun pointed at your
forehead. 

If you are at least level 1, you have enough grenades to use the defense grenade. This mean
little guy will punch holes in any nearby opponents. If you have health 5 and are running
from a high level mofo, toss one of these cherrypoppers on the ground and see if they keep
following. If they do, chances are that they will be reamed and you will be in the clear.
A more offensive way to use this grenade is to toss it in a well travelled area or near the
most used healths where it's hard to see. When any visitors come by, they'll feel the wrath
of your nice little suprise.

Nukes are available to level 7 and above. You may think they serve no purpose since you lose
a point if your own kills you and you are not granted any points for killing people with it,
but it really does. You can toss this in front of you when you're on the run and duck around
a corner while your stalker is blown to little red spots on the ceiling. Another great way
to use this little devil is wonderful. If you are low on ammo for your weapons, but have at
least 100 grenades left, toss this into a room where a bunch of ravenous psychopaths are
fighting and as they all go boom, you can jot on over and take their ammo packs. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any questions, comments, or bugs?
Please feel free to email me at:
lucky760@yahoo.com   

you can download the necessary files at:
geocities.com/lucky760  

My name is R "LuckY" Santor and I am the sole creator of this mod (so far). Thank you for
trying it out!
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Thanks go to the QDevels of planetquake.com and L. Allan Campbell (Geist) who wrote the code
that the maplist is [very] loosely based on.